PONE-D-20-22508

Modern cement concrete and asphalt pavement are damaged by respiratory action and a trace quantities of organic matter (TQOM)

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. moriyoshi,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’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.

Although the study is new and important. However, as a matter of fact, the paper is unnecessarily lengthy and can be shortened by providing the names of the test methods with proper references. A list of abbreviations can also be provided for the interest of the readers. Also, eliminate the lengthy test procedures details in results and discussion part. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 04 2021 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 plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Anwar Khitab

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

In general, the manuscript contains significant numbers of variables: Therefore, it is advised to present a list of abbreviations for the interest of the readers.

Also, it is advised to shorten the manuscript by elaborating the name of the test method with proper references. Explaining the whole test from samples to test conditions, the brand names of the apparatus again and again has made this important study unnecessary lengthy.

Abstract:

Abstract should be concise, with brief problem statement, methodology, results and conclusion. In the current abstract, most of the part is introduction of the problem. It is suggested to exclude large introduction part and concentrate on brief methodology, results and conclusions as per standard format of an abstract.

Introduction:

Line 97: Write the complete name once for “AE”, where it appears for the first time.

In general, the introduction part lacks some important literature review related to the study.

Experiments and test methods:

Line 198: Change the word “Europa” with “Europe”. (I think so).

Line 199: Kindly write full name for “TSM”, “SPNES”, when they appear for the first time OR separately "Provide a list of abbreviations" and then do not use the whole names throughout the manuscript. At the moment, it is mix-up.

Line 218: Kindly Write fully explained term for “1H NMR”. This will be otherwise confusing for the readers. You may alternatively write “Nuclear Magnetic Resonance test”. Similar complete names can be written for 2.2.2, and 2.2.3.

Line 233: What is meant by “(Themes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ,11) “? Kindly omit all such themes throughout the manuscript as they are not understandable at all.

As a whole, the test procedures are described in detail. In my humble view, brief description with some reference is sufficient for the interest of the readers.

Results and Discussion:

It is better to indicate the test methods with reference rather than the brand names of the instrument.

Heading 3.1: Can the observations be presented in tabular form rather than paragraphs?

Line 391: Kindly elaborate “2E1H” for the first time.

Line 395: What is meant by “This gas”?

Line 412: Change “investigate” with “investigated”.

Kindly elaborate “DD” as “Degree of Deterioration”, when it appears for the first time.

Kindly enhance font size in Table 1.

Test methods are repeatedly presented: It is suggested to present the names of the tests and their references rather than explaining the tests again and again. This has made the manuscript very lengthy.

Conclusions:

Conclusions are somewhat dry. Line 1275 to 1286 can be added to the conclusions rather than being the part of the results and discussion.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Paper is very lengthy and readers won’t be able to understand the clear theme of the paper as contents are irregularly arranged.

The authors didn’t mention any details regarding 1H NMR, GC-MS (JMS-AX-500), HPLC, High Volume Sampler, One dimensional Transient moisture permeation test and Micro focus CT scanning (CT) in the Introduction section. It’s hard for the reader to pick new terms later in the paper.

I believe that this paper would be of interest to highway engineers. Therefore, make it simple to read.

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Reviewer #1: No

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PONE-D-20-22508R1

Modern cement concrete and asphalt pavement are damaged by respiratory action and trace quantities of organic matter (TQOM): Civil structures are damaged by respiratory action and trace quantities of organic matter

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. moriyoshi,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’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.

Kindly change the title. Presently, it is in sentence format. Change it to the title format. May I suggest the following title.

"Deterioration of modern concrete and asphalt pavements by respiratory action and trace quantities of organic matter". I also think there is no need for a short title, so that can be omitted.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Apr 30 2021 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 plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ 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 academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• 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, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Anwar Khitab

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

Kindly change the title. Presently, it is in sentence format. Change it to the title format. May I suggest the following title.

"Deterioration of modern concrete and asphalt pavements by respiratory action and trace quantities of organic matter". I also think there is no need for a short title, so that can be omitted.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

[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.]

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.

Deterioration of modern concrete structures and asphalt pavements by respiratory action and trace quantities of organic matter

PONE-D-20-22508R2

Dear Dr. moriyoshi,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Anwar Khitab

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Thanks for the understanding and patience.

Reviewers' comments: