Peer Review History
| Original SubmissionApril 3, 2025 |
|---|
|
A community-based vector control intervention “Slash and Clear” implemented in two onchocerciasis-endemic foci in South Sudan PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Dear Dr. Colebunders, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases's publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript within 60 days Jul 12 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosntds@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pntd/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript: * A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'. This file does not need to include responses to any formatting updates and technical items listed in the 'Journal Requirements' section below. * A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'. * An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'. If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, competing interests statement, or data availability statement, please make these updates within the submission form at the time of resubmission. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter. We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript. Kind regards, Adly M.M. Abd-Alla, Prof asso. Section Editor PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Adly Abd-Alla Section Editor PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Shaden Kamhawi co-Editor-in-Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases orcid.org/0000-0003-4304-636XX Paul Brindley co-Editor-in-Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases orcid.org/0000-0003-1765-0002 Journal Requirements: 1) Please ensure that the CRediT author contributions listed for every co-author are completed accurately and in full. At this stage, the following Authors/Authors require contributions: Robert Colebunders. Please ensure that the full contributions of each author are acknowledged in the "Add/Edit/Remove Authors" section of our submission form. The list of CRediT author contributions may be found here: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/s/authorship#loc-author-contributions 2) Please upload all main figures as separate Figure files in .tif or .eps format. For more information about how to convert and format your figure files please see our guidelines: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/s/figures 3) We have noticed that you have uploaded Supporting Information files, but you have not included a list of legends. Please add a full list of legends for your Supporting Information files after the references list. 4) Some material included in your submission may be copyrighted. According to PLOSu2019s copyright policy, authors who use figures or other material (e.g., graphics, clipart, maps) from another author or copyright holder must demonstrate or obtain permission to publish this material under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License used by PLOS journals. Please closely review the details of PLOSu2019s copyright requirements here: PLOS Licenses and Copyright. If you need to request permissions from a copyright holder, you may use PLOS's Copyright Content Permission form. Please respond directly to this email and provide any known details concerning your material's license terms and permissions required for reuse, even if you have not yet obtained copyright permissions or are unsure of your material's copyright compatibility. Once you have responded and addressed all other outstanding technical requirements, you may resubmit your manuscript within Editorial Manager. Potential Copyright Issues: - Please confirm (a) that you are the photographer of Figure 5, or (b) provide written permission from the photographer to publish the photo(s) under our CC BY 4.0 license. - Figures 1 and 2. Please (a) provide a direct link to the base layer of the map (i.e., the country or region border shape) and ensure this is also included in the figure legend; and (b) provide a link to the terms of use / license information for the base layer image or shapefile. We cannot publish proprietary or copyrighted maps (e.g. Google Maps, Mapquest) and the terms of use for your map base layer must be compatible with our CC BY 4.0 license. Note: if you created the map in a software program like R or ArcGIS, please locate and indicate the source of the basemap shapefile onto which data has been plotted. If your map was obtained from a copyrighted source please amend the figure so that the base map used is from an openly available source. Alternatively, please provide explicit written permission from the copyright holder granting you the right to publish the material under our CC BY 4.0 license. If you are unsure whether you can use a map or not, please do reach out and we will be able to help you. The following websites are good examples of where you can source open access or public domain maps: * U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - All maps are in the public domain. (http://www.usgs.gov) * PlaniGlobe - All maps are published under a Creative Commons license so please cite u201cPlaniGlobe, http://www.planiglobe.com, CC BY 2.0u201d in the image credit after the caption. (http://www.planiglobe.com/?lang=enl) * Natural Earth - All maps are public domain. (http://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/). 5) We note that your Data Availability Statement is currently as follows: "The data reported in the submitted manuscript are provided as part of the submitted articleNo". Please confirm at this time whether or not your submission contains all raw data required to replicate the results of your study. Authors must share the “minimal data set” for their submission. PLOS defines the minimal data set to consist of the data required to replicate all study findings reported in the article, as well as related metadata and methods (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-minimal-data-set-definition). For example, authors should submit the following data: - The values behind the means, standard deviations and other measures reported; - The values used to build graphs; - The points extracted from images for analysis.. Authors do not need to submit their entire data set if only a portion of the data was used in the reported study. If your submission does not contain these data, please either upload them as Supporting Information files or deposit them to a stable, public repository and provide us with the relevant URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers. For a list of recommended repositories, please see https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/recommended-repositories. If there are ethical or legal restrictions on sharing a de-identified data set, please explain them in detail (e.g., data contain potentially sensitive information, data are owned by a third-party organization, etc.) and who has imposed them (e.g., an ethics committee). Please also provide contact information for a data access committee, ethics committee, or other institutional body to which data requests may be sent. If data are owned by a third party, please indicate how others may request data access. 6) Please amend your detailed Financial Disclosure statement. This is published with the article. It must therefore be completed in full sentences and contain the exact wording you wish to be published. Please ensure that the funders and grant numbers match between the Financial Disclosure field and the Funding Information tab in your submission form. Note that the funders must be provided in the same order in both places as well. - State the initials, alongside each funding source, of each author to receive each grant. For example: "This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (####### to AM; ###### to CJ) and the National Science Foundation (###### to AM)." - State what role the funders took in the study. If the funders had no role in your study, please state: "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.". If you did not receive any funding for this study, please simply state: u201cThe authors received no specific funding for this work.u201d Reviewers' Comments: Reviewer's Responses to Questions Key Review Criteria Required for Acceptance? As you describe the new analyses required for acceptance, please consider the following: Methods: -Are the objectives of the study clearly articulated with a clear testable hypothesis stated? -Is the study design appropriate to address the stated objectives? -Is the population clearly described and appropriate for the hypothesis being tested? -Is the sample size sufficient to ensure adequate power to address the hypothesis being tested? -Were correct statistical analysis used to support conclusions? -Are there concerns about ethical or regulatory requirements being met? Reviewer #1: I believe the hypothesis is clear and that the study design appropriate to the challenging setting the authors worked in. I am not a statistician so I would defer any opinion on the methodology to someone better qualified to judge. I am concerned that the ethical issues around human landing catches are not articulated and there is no reference to this aspect of the study. The oncho community are seeking to find alternative approaches to the issue and this needs to be referred to Reviewer #2: • Line.111. What was the approximate distance between the study and control sites? The figures are not titled and are rather blurred, but in Figure 1, it looks as if the study site was flanked by the control sites; if this was the case can the authors comment on whether the interventions at the study site could have contaminated the findings at the control sites? • Lines 150-151: The sentence “Prospections in the two rivers (Naam and Yei) were conducted by experienced technical staff,…” could be reworded for clarity. The word “prospected” usually applies to the search for mineral deposits. For example: The rivers Naam and Yei were surveyed by experienced technical staff,…”. Lines 153, 180, 238, 415, Table 1: “prospections” could be replaced by “surveys”. • Lines 240-241: can the authors give a figure for the number of remaining sites along the River Naam? Table 1 suggests there were four. Reviewer #3: THe authors need to review the indicators used to calculate the reduction rate (% exchange rate) Reviewer #4: Yes, the objectives of the study were clearly articulated and testable. The study design was not entirely clear, if it was a case-control or before-after intervention. Reviewer #5: The objectives of the study are not clearly articulated with a clear testable hypothesis. A comparison is made between the baseline Monthly Biting Rate and the subsequent MBR for 14 months. It is difficult to imagine that this Slash and Clear could have an impact on the subsequent MBR during 14 months. ********** Results: -Does the analysis presented match the analysis plan? -Are the results clearly and completely presented? -Are the figures (Tables, Images) of sufficient quality for clarity? Reviewer #1: Yes analysis matches plan. Results well presented. Good quality figures and Tables. Reviewer #2: • Table 2. The heading for the last column should be Daily Mean Biting Rate (DBR). • Figure 3. Does the figure show clearly an evening rise in biting rates at Tawa (Lines 268 – 269)? This is not clear from the figure. • Lines 305 – 307. How confident are the authors about the reliability of the log transformed data on mean biting rates on the Naam River? Reviewer #3: See the document attached Reviewer #4: Yes Reviewer #5: The results are well clearly and completely presented, but these results are based on hypotheses that does not take into consideration the biology of the Simulium and breeding sites. ********** Conclusions: -Are the conclusions supported by the data presented? -Are the limitations of analysis clearly described? -Do the authors discuss how these data can be helpful to advance our understanding of the topic under study? -Is public health relevance addressed? Reviewer #1: Conclusions supported by data presented. Limitations described. Authors have a firm grasp of the implications of the study Public health as well as programmatic relevance addressed Reviewer #2: • Lines 343, 424. Can the authors explain what is meant by emboldened rocks? • Lines 359-361. It is not clear from this sentence whether the Tawa and Boro sites are located in savannah regions. Could the authors clarify? • Lines 366 – 368. Can the authors provide evidence in support of the negative effect of high temperatures on black fly breeding behaviour, even in the more stable forested areas? Reviewer #3: Yes Reviewer #4: Yes, however, the main results which is the impact of the S&C should standout clear and undiluted. Reviewer #5: The conclusion is supported by the data presented, but it could not be otherwise. Having one round of Slash and Clear, it is absolutely normal there is no impact on Monthly Biting Rate during a period of 14 months. ********** Editorial and Data Presentation Modifications? Use this section for editorial suggestions as well as relatively minor modifications of existing data that would enhance clarity. If the only modifications needed are minor and/or editorial, you may wish to recommend “Minor Revision” or “Accept”. Reviewer #1: See below Reviewer #2: • The paper could be streamlined in terms of language and punctuation, for better flow of the narrative. It would have been helpful for a native English speaker to have reviewed the text before submission. • Lines 84, 196, 451, 460: AMREF Health Africa should be Amref Health Africa. Amref is no longer an acronym after the name change of the organization. • It is quite hard to match the figures to the text since none of the figures are titled. In addition, they appear to be rather blurred. Reviewer #3: Minor revisions Reviewer #4: Accepted with minor revision Reviewer #5: (No Response) ********** Summary and General Comments: Use this section to provide overall comments, discuss strengths/weaknesses of the study, novelty, significance, general execution and scholarship. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. If requesting major revision, please articulate the new experiments that are needed. Reviewer #1: This is an important paper in the context of the potential approaches to controlling blackflies using the Slash and Clear (S&C) method by reducing the vegetation substrate in blackfly breeding sites which has been used in other settings. I feel that the authors need to emphasise the rationale that vector control is an important adjunct to the overall objective of elimination of onchocerciasis in Africa in combination with ivermectin MDA. The effectiveness of vector control (using insecticide) in certain settings needs to be expressed (eg Bioko, Uganda foci) assuming they are isolated which the sites studied in South Sudan are not. However, the study does show that the challenges of this approach really cannot be used and/or sustained over the vast areas of oncho endemicity placing in doubt the likelihood that S&C can be used at the necessary scale. This needs to be contextualised as the feasibility of insecticide is also a major challenge for environmental, cost and sustainability reasons. I would encourage the authors to add a paragraph raising these issues. Essentially, if WHO targets for oncho elimination are to be reached on the scale required in the diverse oncho geographies then vector control, however desirable, is not likely to have a meaningful role. Reviewer #2: This study is limited by the single slash and clear intervention at each site, and the follow up over a relatively short period of time, giving inconclusive results. The authors themselves state (P443 – 446) that “repeated implementation of this intervention with the right timing (towards the end of the dry season and throughout the rainy season) could be effective in reducing Simulium biting rates in endemic communities”. Although the paper provides some interesting information, it would be considerably strengthened if data could be collected over several interventions and over a longer period of time. In addition, the distance between control and study sites is not provided (they appear to be quite close on the maps), so it is hard to know how much the interventions could have impacted the control sites. Reviewer #3: This paper, whose data present a trial of physical control of onchocerciasis vectors, is very important. These data allow us to further explore the contours associated with the implementation of this black fly control strategy to eliminate onchocerciasis in endemic areas. However, the data presented in this paper suggest that a single round of S&C cannot impact MBR in the medium or long-term. The success of this strategy requires repeated rounds of S&C implementation each year with the right timing to sustainably decrease black fly biting rates. Reviewer #4: This is a great work especially as slash and clear has not been overly exploited as a vector control tool. However, I had a bit of concern especially with the study design. It was unclear to me if this was a case control study or an intervention study (before-after). Secondly, in the abstract, I think the results and conclusion do not emphasize the purpose of the work. From my understand, the study was to assess the impact of the community-based vector control S&C. The other results such as the BR being higher in one season than the other, etc., are more secondary outcomes but they overshadowed the rationale behind the study. I think the main objective should stand out esp. in the abstract. This was however elaborated in the author summary. Reviewer #5: This paper by Thomson Luroni Lakwo et al. is a contribution of the experimentation of the impact of the Slash and Clear strategy on the control and elimination of onchocerciasis. This strategy has shown a significant reduction in the Simulium Monthly Biting Rate where it was implemented. In this study by Thomson Luroni Lakwo et al, a unique round of Slash and clear was conducted and the impact evaluated throughout the following 14 months, with the evaluation of the percentage change relative to baseline Monthly Biting Rates (MBR). Considering the cycle of Simulium damnosum around a month and the cycle of the vegetation along the fast-flowing rivers that grows after one month or so, one wonders what the hypothesis was, in hoping the one round Slash and clear could have a significant impact on Simulium daily or monthly biting rate throughout the following 14 months. Whatever the analyses are, or the model, it is difficult to conceive that one round of Slash and clear could have impact on Simulium Monthly Biting Rate and hence an impact on onchocerciasis transmission. The results of this study are trouble message concerning this environmentally friendly vector control strategy. Even if the reduction of the biting rate in some experiments is modest, it remains that this strategy induced in most cases a significant reduction of the biting rates, with monthly or two monthly Slash and clear. Nobody can imagine that one round of Slash and Clear can impact either the biting rate or the onchocerciasis transmission. ********** PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy . Reviewer #1: No Reviewer #2: No Reviewer #3: Yes: Philippe Bienvenu Nwane Reviewer #4: No Reviewer #5: No [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] Figure resubmission: While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step. If there are other versions of figure files still present in your submission file inventory at resubmission, please replace them with the PACE-processed versions. Reproducibility: ?>
|
| Revision 1 |
|
Dear Dr Colebunders, We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript 'A community-based vector control intervention “Slash and Clear” implemented in two onchocerciasis-endemic foci in South Sudan' has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Before your manuscript can be formally accepted you will need to complete some formatting changes, which you will receive in a follow up email. A member of our team will be in touch with a set of requests. Please note that your manuscript will not be scheduled for publication until you have made the required changes, so a swift response is appreciated. IMPORTANT: The editorial review process is now complete. PLOS will only permit corrections to spelling, formatting or significant scientific errors from this point onwards. Requests for major changes, or any which affect the scientific understanding of your work, will cause delays to the publication date of your manuscript. Should you, your institution's press office or the journal office choose to press release your paper, you will automatically be opted out of early publication. We ask that you notify us now if you or your institution is planning to press release the article. All press must be co-ordinated with PLOS. Thank you again for supporting Open Access publishing; we are looking forward to publishing your work in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Best regards, Adly M.M. Abd-Alla, Prof asso. Section Editor PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Adly Abd-Alla Section Editor PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Shaden Kamhawi co-Editor-in-Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases orcid.org/0000-0003-4304-636XX Paul Brindley co-Editor-in-Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases orcid.org/0000-0003-1765-0002 Journal Requirements: 1) Thank you for including an Ethics Statement for your study. Please include: i) A statement that formal consent was obtained (must state whether verbal/written) OR the reason consent was not obtained (e.g. anonymity). NOTE: If child participants, the statement must declare that formal consent was obtained from the parent/guardian.]. 2) We have noticed that you have uploaded Supporting Information files, but you have not included a list of legends. Please add a full list of legends for your Supporting Information files after the references list. 3) Some material included in your submission may be copyrighted. According to PLOSu2019s copyright policy, authors who use figures or other material (e.g., graphics, clipart, maps) from another author or copyright holder must demonstrate or obtain permission to publish this material under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License used by PLOS journals. Please closely review the details of PLOSu2019s copyright requirements here: PLOS Licenses and Copyright. If you need to request permissions from a copyright holder, you may use PLOS's Copyright Content Permission form. Please respond directly to this email and provide any known details concerning your material's license terms and permissions required for reuse, even if you have not yet obtained copyright permissions or are unsure of your material's copyright compatibility. Once you have responded and addressed all other outstanding technical requirements, you may resubmit your manuscript within Editorial Manager. Potential Copyright Issues: i) Figures 1, and 2. Please (a) provide a direct link to the base layer of the map (i.e., the country or region border shape) and ensure this is also included in the figure legend; and (b) provide a link to the terms of use / license information for the base layer image or shapefile. We cannot publish proprietary or copyrighted maps (e.g. Google Maps, Mapquest) and the terms of use for your map base layer must be compatible with our CC BY 4.0 license. Note: if you created the map in a software program like R or ArcGIS, please locate and indicate the source of the basemap shapefile onto which data has been plotted. If your map was obtained from a copyrighted source please amend the figure so that the base map used is from an openly available source. Alternatively, please provide explicit written permission from the copyright holder granting you the right to publish the material under our CC BY 4.0 license. If you are unsure whether you can use a map or not, please do reach out and we will be able to help you. The following websites are good examples of where you can source open access or public domain maps: * U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - All maps are in the public domain. (http://www.usgs.gov) * PlaniGlobe - All maps are published under a Creative Commons license so please cite u201cPlaniGlobe, http://www.planiglobe.com, CC BY 2.0u201d in the image credit after the caption. (http://www.planiglobe.com/?lang=enl) * Natural Earth - All maps are public domain. (http://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/). 4) Please amend your detailed Financial Disclosure statement. This is published with the article. It must therefore be completed in full sentences and contain the exact wording you wish to be published. 1) State the initials, alongside each funding source, of each author to receive each grant. For example: "This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (####### to AM; ###### to CJ) and the National Science Foundation (###### to AM)." 2) State what role the funders took in the study. If the funders had no role in your study, please state: "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript." 3) If any authors received a salary from any of your funders, please state which authors and which funders.. If you did not receive any funding for this study, please simply state: u201cThe authors received no specific funding for this work.u201d 5) Please ensure that the funders and grant numbers match between the Financial Disclosure field and the Funding Information tab in your submission form. Note that the funders must be provided in the same order in both places as well. Currently, the Financial Disclosure states there was no funding received. *********************************************************** Reviewer's Responses to Questions Key Review Criteria Required for Acceptance? As you describe the new analyses required for acceptance, please consider the following: Methods -Are the objectives of the study clearly articulated with a clear testable hypothesis stated? -Is the study design appropriate to address the stated objectives? -Is the population clearly described and appropriate for the hypothesis being tested? -Is the sample size sufficient to ensure adequate power to address the hypothesis being tested? -Were correct statistical analysis used to support conclusions? -Are there concerns about ethical or regulatory requirements being met? Reviewer #1: -Are the objectives of the study clearly articulated with a clear testable hypothesis stated? Yes -Is the study design appropriate to address the stated objectives? Yes -Is the population clearly described and appropriate for the hypothesis being tested? Yes -Is the sample size sufficient to ensure adequate power to address the hypothesis being tested? Yes -Were correct statistical analysis used to support conclusions? Yes -Are there concerns about ethical or regulatory requirements being met? Yes Reviewer #4: (No Response) ********** Results -Does the analysis presented match the analysis plan? -Are the results clearly and completely presented? -Are the figures (Tables, Images) of sufficient quality for clarity? Reviewer #1: -Does the analysis presented match the analysis plan? Yes -Are the results clearly and completely presented? Yes -Are the figures (Tables, Images) of sufficient quality for clarity? Yes Reviewer #4: (No Response) ********** Conclusions -Are the conclusions supported by the data presented? -Are the limitations of analysis clearly described? -Do the authors discuss how these data can be helpful to advance our understanding of the topic under study? -Is public health relevance addressed? Reviewer #1: -Are the conclusions supported by the data presented? Yes -Are the limitations of analysis clearly described? Yes -Do the authors discuss how these data can be helpful to advance our understanding of the topic under study? Yes -Is public health relevance addressed? Yes Reviewer #4: (No Response) ********** Editorial and Data Presentation Modifications? Use this section for editorial suggestions as well as relatively minor modifications of existing data that would enhance clarity. If the only modifications needed are minor and/or editorial, you may wish to recommend “Minor Revision” or “Accept”. Reviewer #1: No Reviewer #4: (No Response) ********** Summary and General Comments Use this section to provide overall comments, discuss strengths/weaknesses of the study, novelty, significance, general execution and scholarship. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. If requesting major revision, please articulate the new experiments that are needed. Reviewer #1: I am satisfied by the extensive revisions the authors have undertaken following review. Reviewer #4: (No Response) ********** PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy . Reviewer #1: No Reviewer #4: No p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 16.0px; font: 14.0px Arial; color: #323333; -webkit-text-stroke: #323333}span.s1 {font-kerning: none
|
| Formally Accepted |
|
Dear Dr Colebunders, We are delighted to inform you that your manuscript, "A community-based vector control intervention “Slash and Clear” implemented in two onchocerciasis-endemic foci in South Sudan," has been formally accepted for publication in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. We have now passed your article onto the PLOS Production Department who will complete the rest of the publication process. All authors will receive a confirmation email upon publication. The corresponding author will soon be receiving a typeset proof for review, to ensure errors have not been introduced during production. Please review the PDF proof of your manuscript carefully, as this is the last chance to correct any scientific or type-setting errors. Please note that major changes, or those which affect the scientific understanding of the work, will likely cause delays to the publication date of your manuscript. Note: Proofs for Front Matter articles (Editorial, Viewpoint, Symposium, Review, etc...) are generated on a different schedule and may not be made available as quickly. Soon after your final files are uploaded, the early version of your manuscript will be published online unless you opted out of this process. The date of the early version will be your article's publication date. The final article will be published to the same URL, and all versions of the paper will be accessible to readers. Thank you again for supporting open-access publishing; we are looking forward to publishing your work in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Best regards, Shaden Kamhawi co-Editor-in-Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Paul Brindley co-Editor-in-Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
Open letter on the publication of peer review reports
PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process. Therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. Reviewers remain anonymous, unless they choose to reveal their names.
We encourage other journals to join us in this initiative. We hope that our action inspires the community, including researchers, research funders, and research institutions, to recognize the benefits of published peer review reports for all parts of the research system.
Learn more at ASAPbio .