PONE-D-22-28184Rural Household Income Mobility in Ethiopia: Dimensions, Drivers and PolicyPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Tigabu,

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László Vasa, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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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

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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: The manuscript is technically solid, the data obtained by the authors supports the investigation and its conclusions, and thus the study exhibits novel research findings. What was particularly applauded was the careful introduction of methods and the reasons behind using them.

The paper's format is logical, beginning with an overview of the problem and progressing through the methods and sources of data collecting. The studies are carried out to a high technical degree and are sufficiently detailed within the publication, demonstrating that the analysis was carried out appropriately and systematically. The authors have included all data supporting their findings in their publication in tables, along with explanations for those tables. Additionally, the conclusion is given in the appropriate manner, the evidence supports the conclusions.

The research complies with all applicable ethical and research integrity standards, and the work adheres to appropriate reporting criteria and community standards for data access.

The only (absolutely minor) issue with the most recent version of the paper is one mistake i found (on page 13, where mean number of male adults is 1.3, not 1.4.), so a thorough second check is required with the data, but my overall recommendation is to publish the paper following a check.

Reviewer #2: Rural Household Income Mobility in Ethiopia: Dimensions, Drivers and Policy paper is an important, gap-filling work, as no evidence exist of income mobility in Ethiopia. It aims to provide empirical evidence on rural households' income mobility and their determinants in the horn of Africa, consequently the study provides a sound basis for policy recommendations.

The chosen analytical tools complement each other well, and their combination is appropriate. The description - presentation, justification - of each analytical method is clear, coherent, and well structured.

I have some additional comments for minor corrections:

- The numbers should be uniform, either written out in letters or as numbers. In this the manuscript is inconsistent, see e.g. 2.1 Data: 3rd paragraph 1st line

- Decimal points should also be used consistently in number division, see e.g. 2.1 Data: 3rd paragraph last sentence.

- In 3.1 Sampled households' characteristics it says: "The results also indicated that the mean number of female adults (1.4) is slightly greater than male adults (1.4) in the households." But the referred values are equal. Write out more decimal places to support the claim.

- In the conclusion it would be worth highlighting the most disadvantaged and making specific recommendations concerning them.

Reviewer #3: The paper is focusing on a timely and actual topic of household income mobility in Africa, specifically in Ethiopia. The paper's focus, context, research methodology can be regarded as original and, in my opinion, it can contribute to the existing knowledge. The authors selected the appropriate method and methodological toolset and made the research well.

However, in the paper, in fact, we can't see any literature review. Without this, the paper can't be regarded as scientific writing. I recommend to write a 'classical' literature review which is analysing, processing the most relevant international sources in a critical and comparative way.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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Rural Household Income Mobility in Ethiopia: Dimensions, Drivers and Policy

PONE-D-22-28184R1

Dear Dr. Tigabu,

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,

Prof. 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

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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

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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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

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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

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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: Based on the new version provided, it appears that the authors have done a huge job in conducting their research and addressing the feedback provided by the reviewers.

I noted in my review that the manuscript is technically solid and that the authors' data supports the investigation and its conclusions, also praised the authors for their careful introduction of methods and the reasons behind using them. They have changed those issues i recommended.

Reviewer #2 stated that the paper is an important and gap-filling work that provides empirical evidence on rural households' income mobility and their determinants in Ethiopia. However, the reviewer suggested some minor corrections, such as ensuring uniformity in numbers and decimal points. According to the updated version, the author addressed these comments.

Finally, Reviewer #3 noted that the authors' research methodology can be regarded as original and that it can contribute to existing knowledge. However, the reviewer recommended that the authors include a literature review that analyzes and processes the most relevant international sources in a critical and comparative way, as this is a necessary component of scientific writing. The authors did provide a lit review in the new version.

Overall, it appears that the authors have done a great job in addressing the feedback provided by the reviewers and conducting their research. Their work on rural household income mobility in Ethiopia is important and contributes to existing knowledge on the topic.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been processed by the author. As a review I was unable to examine the dual publication issue, however the present manuscript is of high quality.

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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

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