diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 246d134c70c8079dc8b27cc33da849f92d568933..5c2f8dfacff706ebb3cc6d43c4b4f93f6b351ff4 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ demo
 .bundle
 coverage
 .ruby-version
+.DS_Store
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/scholar/utilities.rb b/lib/jekyll/scholar/utilities.rb
index 0612a471db03f1656fe4a76d2729abe0e419c6e2..523db866e3c9c320bbd5a81eb1fc4d7f6baf7272 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/scholar/utilities.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/scholar/utilities.rb
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ module Jekyll
       end
 
       def link_target_for key
-        "#{base_url}#{relative}##{[prefix, key].compact.join('-')}"
+        "#{base_url}#{relative.to_s.strip}##{[prefix, key].compact.join('-')}"
       end
 
       def cite(keys)