Comparative Assessment of p16/Ki-67 Dual Staining Technology for Cervical Cancer Screening in Women Living with HIV (COMPASS-DUST) – Study Protocol

PONE-D-22-30541

Dear Dr. Okunade,

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,

Richard Ali

Staff Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and 

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf

2. Our staff editors have determined that your manuscript is likely within the scope of our Early Detection, Screening and Diagnosis of Cancer Call for Papers. This editorial initiative is headed by in-house PLOS editors. This Call for Papers aims to explore recent advances in the early detection of cancer and implications of these advances for patient survival. Additional information can be found on our announcement page: https://collections.plos.org/call-for-papers/early-detection-screening-and-diagnosis-of-cancer/

If you would like your manuscript to be considered for this collection, please let us know in your cover letter and we will ensure that your paper is treated as if you were responding to this call. Please note that being considered for the Call for Papers does not require additional peer review beyond the journal’s standard process and will not delay the publication of your manuscript if it is accepted by PLOS ONE. If you would prefer to remove your manuscript from collection consideration, please specify this in the cover letter.

3. Thank you for stating the following financial disclosure: 

 "The lead author (KSO) received support for the research proposed in this publication from the National Cancer Institute and Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K43TW011930. The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute, Fogarty International Center, or the National Institutes of Health."

Please state what role the funders took in the study.  If the funders had no role, please state: "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript." 

If this statement is not correct you must amend it as needed. 

Please respond by return e-mail so that we can amend your financial disclosure and competing interests on your behalf.

4. Thank you for stating the following in the Competing Interests section: 

  "I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: KSO and GO are both editorial board members of PLoS One."

Please confirm that this does not alter your adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, by including the following statement: "This does not alter our adherence to  PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.” (as detailed online in our guide for authors http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/competing-interests). If there are restrictions on sharing of data and/or materials, please state these. Please note that we cannot proceed with consideration of your article until this information has been declared. 

Please respond by return email with your amended Competing Interests Statement and we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: