PNTD-D-25-00146Rabies Control via Co-Creation: A Model for Sustainable One Health InterventionsPLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases  Dear Dr. Bor, 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 30 days Jul 07 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, Richard A. Bowen, DVM PhDAcademic EditorPLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases Victoria BrookesSection EditorPLOS 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

Additional Editor Comments: Your manuscript has been reviewed by 3 experts, each of whom applauded your effort and has provided major or minor suggestions for clarification or improvement. Please review these comments, revise your manuiscript as you think best and resubmit.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: Nicholas Bor, Geoffrey Njenga, Annabel Slater, Peterkin Munywoki, Dorcas Chepyatich, David Owino, Maurice K. Murungi, Dishon Muloi, and Lian F. Thomas. Please ensure that the full contributions of each author are acknowledged in the "Add/Edit/Remove Authors" section of our submission form.

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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: Please see attached comments.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes, to all of the above questions. MH

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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: See attached comments.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes, to all of the above questions. MH

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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: See attached comments.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes, to all of the above questions. This is a very novel idea for the bottom-up approach to public health. MH

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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 attached comments.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: N/A

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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 manuscript presents findings from a co-creation strategy aimed at developing communication materials for rabies awareness and mass dog vaccination campaigns (MDVC). The study makes a valuable contribution to the rabies literature by addressing a critical, yet often overlooked, barrier to successful MDVC implementation—namely, communication challenges and insufficient community engagement. By involving community stakeholders in the development of communication tools, the study offers a practical and context-sensitive approach to improving public health interventions. I recommend this manuscript for publication, pending minor revisions that I believe will strengthen the clarity and overall impact of the work.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: To the author, I am not sure who or how this idea was developed, but I really like it and wish I had thought of something similar with my own rabies work. Community work is fulfilling, and I am sure you feel that something good was accomplished here based upon all of the comments the participants provided. Thank you for including those in the manuscript. More effective and believable to read their actual comments. This community buy in and participation is exciting and I hope that others will model the idea. Thank you. I enjoyed reading and reviewing your manuscript.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes:  Melinda Hergert

[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: To enhance the reproducibility of your results, we recommend that authors of applicable studies deposit laboratory protocols in protocols.io, where a protocol can be assigned its own identifier (DOI) such that it can be cited independently in the future. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option to publish peer-reviewed clinical study protocols. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols

Attachments

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Submitted filename: 2025-04-11_PNTD-D-25-00145_Review.docx

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Submitted filename: PNTD-D-25-00146_review.docx

Dear Bor,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript 'Rabies Control via Co-Creation: A Model for Sustainable One Health Interventions' 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,

Richard A. Bowen, DVM PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Victoria Brookes

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

***********************************************************

Thank you for addressing the comments and suggestions from reviewers. I believe this is a valuable addition to the highly important quest to promote vaccination of dogs against rabies to decrease the burden of human rabies. I especially enjoyed all of the posters and other graphics you provided.

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