Peer Review History

Original SubmissionNovember 21, 2020
Decision Letter - Okoye Benjamin Chukwuemeka, Editor

PONE-D-20-36703

Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency for Penaeus Monodon vs Litopenaeus Vannamei in India

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yongtong Mu

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.

Title: See minor amendments on Title

Abstract: See my inputs in text

Introduction: See my inputs in text

Methodology: In your production function model, age and experience are not/cannot be factors of production but for productivity. Because you estimated a production function, pls expunge these variables and re-run your model, you can use the following: Pond size,  Feed, seed, Medicine and or Capital inputs (depreciated). Please see other inputs in text

Results: See my inputs in text

Discussion: See my inputs in text

Conclusion: See my inputs in text

Please also note the several semantic/language errors many of which were corrected and effect pls.

Your manuscript had a good flow in terms of methodology and discussion if you can effect some of these errors pointed out.

Please submit your revised manuscript by 23rd January 2020. 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,

Okoye Benjamin Chukwuemeka

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Title: See minor amendments on Title

Abstract: See my inputs in text

Introduction: See my inputs in text

Methodology: In your production function model, age and experience are not/cannot be factors of production but for productivity. Because you estimated a production function, pls expunge these variables and re-run your mode, you can use the following: Pond size, Feed, seed, Medicine and or Capital inputs (depreciated). Please see other inputs in text

Results: See my inputs in text

Discussion: See my inputs in text

Conclusion: See my inputs in text

Please also note the several semantic/language errors many of which were corrected and effect pls.

Your manuscript had a good flow in terms of methodology and discussion if you can effect some of these errors pointed out.

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

Reviewers' comments:

[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.

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: PONE-D-20-36703 profitability reviewed.pdf
Revision 1

Response to Reviewers

Date: Jan 11 2021 01:14PM

To: "Yongtong Mu" ytmu@ouc.edu.cn

From: "PLOS ONE" plosone@plos.org

Subject: PLOS ONE Decision: Revision required [PONE-D-20-36703]

Ref. No. PONE-D-20-36703

Title: Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency for Penaeus Monodon vs Litopenaeus Vannamei in India

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yongtong Mu

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.

Author’s response: Thank you for your interest in our study. We have made the revision according to your vital suggestions. This will significantly improve the quality of manuscript. The detailed response against each comment is described below sections.

Title: See minor amendments on Title

Author’s response: Thanks for the suggestion. Correction have been made in title as” Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency between Penaeus Monodon and Litopenaeus Vannamei in India”

Abstract: See my inputs in text

Author’s response: Thanks for the advice. Corrections have been made.

Introduction: See my inputs in text

Author’s response: Thanks for the comments. Corrections have been made in whole MS.

Methodology: In your production function model, age and experience are not/cannot be factors of production but for productivity. Because you estimated a production function, pls expunge these variables and re-run your model, you can use the following: Pond size, Feed, seed, Medicine and or Capital inputs (depreciated). Please see other inputs in text

Author’s response: Thanks for the suggestions. Changes have been made and model has been re-run “In the new production function model variables of age and experience has been omitted and the new variable of average shrimp pond size has been added”.

Results: See my inputs in text

Thanks for the advice. Corrections have been made.

Discussion: See my inputs in text

Author’s response: Thanks for the suggestions. Changes have been made.

Conclusion: See my inputs in text

Author’s response: Thanks for the suggestions. Changes have been made.

Sincerely your’s

Yongtong Mu

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - László VASA, Editor

PONE-D-20-36703R1

Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency between Penaeus Monodon and Litopenaeus Vannamei in India

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yongtong Mu,

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.

You find the evaluations done by the reviewers bellow.

Please submit your revised manuscript by 04.04.2021. 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,

László VASA, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. 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: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. 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

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. 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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. 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: The paper is focusing on a rather rarely discussed field so it is absolutely welcome. Authors used appropriate methodology for investigating the pronblem set in the introduction. The overall quality of the article fits PLOS ONE's requirements. However, I have some revision recommendations before publications:

- in fact, there is no literature review chapter in the paper; it is obligartory part of scientific writing so I strongly recommend to write a separated literature review chapter which is analytical, critical and comprehensive enough;

- "Sustainability and intensification" is rather belonging to the discussion chapter, no need for keeping it as separete chapter;

- the figures are of very low quality, those should be reedited/redesigned;

- some parts of the results could be shifted to discussion part, or, these two chapters should be probably merged (Results and discussions)

Reviewer #2: The authors have well revised their manuscript and responded to all comments. I suggest publishing this well-written and technically sound paper.

**********

7. 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

[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.

Revision 2

Response to Reviewers

Date: Mar 23 2021

To: "Yongtong Mu" ytmu@ouc.edu.cn

From: "PLOS ONE" plosone@plos.org

Subject: PLOS ONE Decision: Revision required [PONE-D-20-36703R1] - [EMID:855ab397ca70728a]

Ref. No. PONE-D-20-36703R1

Title: Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency for Penaeus Monodon vs Litopenaeus Vannamei in India

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yongtong Mu

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. Please submit your revised manuscript by 04.04.2021.

Author’s response: Thank you for your interest in our study. We have made the necessary revisions according to the reviewer’s suggestions. This will significantly improve the quality of manuscript.

Reviewer Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1:

The paper is focusing on a rather rarely discussed field so it is absolutely welcome. Authors used appropriate methodology for investigating the problem set in the introduction. The overall quality of the article fits PLOS ONE's requirements. However, I have some revision recommendations before publications:

(1)- in fact, there is no literature review chapter in the paper; it is obligatory part of scientific writing so I strongly recommend to write a separated literature review chapter which is analytical, critical and comprehensive enough

Author’s response: Thanks for the suggestion. We have added the brief literature review chapter in the manuscript as:

It is concluded by Engle [20], that production intensification develops “economies of scale” spreading the annual fixed costs over higher production volumes, that ultimately reduces per unit cost of production. By increasing the production cycles and expansion in culture practices results higher production with greater efficiencies and reduced cost of productions.

Penda et al. [21] conducted a study to examine the profitability of fish production in Nigeria, demonstrated that feed, labour and seed were the major components of variable cost sharing 28.10%, 12.76%, and 8.03% in the total cost, respectively. Procurement of feed, labour and seed was the major investment while, pond, pumping machine, harvesting materials shovel, and others were among the fixed assets of production. The elasticity of variables with respect to fish farmers using concrete ponds for feeds, pond size and seed were 0.177, 0.27 and 0.52, respectively. This shows that increasing investment amounts on feeds, fingerlings, and ponds; more production is realized from fish farms.

The study on Resource use of Litopenaeus vannamei and Penaeus monodon production in Thailand and Vietnam [22], reported that as the production intensity increased, the resources use per metric ton of shrimp reduced. The greater expansion of shrimp ponds with high intensifications leads to lesser use of resources and higher production. The study mentioned the importance of intensification of shrimp farms by stating that in near future to meet the shrimp demands of growing population, the intensification is pivotal. With limited land and water resources, best efficient and productive output can be resulted only by intensification and better management practices.

The study on profitability of intensified shrimp farms in Vietnam and Thailand, revealed that farms with high investments and intensification outclassed with those of less intensifications. Further, the highly intensified shrimp farms in both countries produced greater yields with lower costs per unit of shrimp produced. Higher economic efficiencies were attained in farms with greater intensifications than the lower ones. These efficiencies were accomplished not only by increasing the profit margins but also by reducing the costs [23].

Narayanamoorthy et al. [24], studied the efficiency of shrimp farms in India and suggested that efficiency of a farm relies heavily on the quantities of inputs used. If the stocking density and resources used in the production system are optimum, it leads to healthier economic returns. However, if the resources like feed, stocking density, fertilizers water spread area and available technology are over-utilized it eventually increases the stress and reduces growth rate of shrimps, declining the profit margin.

Shawon et al. [25] in his work estimated the financial profitability of shrimps in coastal areas of Bangladesh, which revealed that culture was economically viable with gross profit margins as high as 59%. Break-even price for shrimps were Tk. 311 per kg while break-even production was found 155 kg per acre. Benefit cost ratio (BCR) was found greater than unity indicating the profitability of the culture with positive net profit margins.

Rasha et al. [26] studied the productivity and resource use efficiency of tiger shrimp revealing that production function for shrimp farming exhibited increasing returns to scale. The major constraints faced by the farmers were high price of inputs (55.20%) followed by insufficient water in dry season (40%) and others.

Radhakrishnan et al. [27] evaluated the input use efficiency of shrimp farming using stochastic product frontier approach. The model was applied to 150 shrimp farmers of India, and the mean efficiency score of 0.95 revealed the high technical efficiency of the farmers. Further inferences revealed that all variables were statistically significant and the small-scale farmers have not improved the efficiency due to least resource utilization and the same can be enhanced by increasing farm investments and intensifications.

(2)- "Sustainability and intensification" is rather belonging to the discussion chapter, no need for keeping it as separate chapter;

Author’s response: Thanks for the advice. "Sustainability and intensification" chapter has been merged in the discussion section

(3)- the figures are of very low quality, those should be reedited/redesigned;

Author’s response: Thanks for the comment. Changes have been made in the figures.

(4)- some parts of the results could be shifted to discussion part, or, these two chapters should be probably merged (Results and discussions)

Author’s response: Thanks for the suggestions. The results have been concised and the explanatory part has been merged in the discussion section.

Reviewer #2:

The authors have well revised their manuscript and responded to all comments. I suggest publishing this well-written and technically sound paper.

Author’s response: Thanks for your interest and vital suggestions in improving the quality of our manuscript.

Sincerely yours

Yongtong Mu

Decision Letter - László VASA, Editor

Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency between Penaeus Monodon and Litopenaeus Vannamei in India

PONE-D-20-36703R2

Dear Dr. Yongtong Mu,

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.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

László VASA, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. 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

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. 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

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. 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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. 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: Authors made the required improvements, I accept it for publication. Literature review was improved, and also other relevant parts, so the paper is scientifically sound and comprehensive.

Reviewer #2: The authors have well addressed all the previous comments and now the paper is ready for publication.

**********

7. 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

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - László VASA, Editor

PONE-D-20-36703R2

Comparative Analysis of Profitability and Resource Use Efficiency between Penaeus Monodon and Litopenaeus Vannamei in India

Dear Dr. Mu:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Prof. Dr. László VASA

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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