Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJanuary 30, 2023
Decision Letter - Surya Bahadur Parajuli, Editor

PONE-D-23-02677How does a pair of near-vision spectacle correction empower older Zanzibari craftswomen?: a qualitative study on perceptionPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Chan

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 May 14 2023 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

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Surya Bahadur Parajuli, MD

Academic 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. Please include a complete copy of PLOS’ questionnaire on inclusivity in global research in your revised manuscript. Our policy for research in this area aims to improve transparency in the reporting of research performed outside of researchers’ own country or community. The policy applies to researchers who have travelled to a different country to conduct research, research with Indigenous populations or their lands, and research on cultural artefacts. The questionnaire can also be requested at the journal’s discretion for any other submissions, even if these conditions are not met.  Please find more information on the policy and a link to download a blank copy of the questionnaire here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/best-practices-in-research-reporting. Please upload a completed version of your questionnaire as Supporting Information when you resubmit your manuscript.

3. Please provide additional details regarding participant consent. In the ethics statement in the Methods and online submission information, please ensure that you have specified what type you obtained (for instance, written or verbal, and if verbal, how it was documented and witnessed). If your study included minors, state whether you obtained consent from parents or guardians. If the need for consent was waived by the ethics committee, please include this information.

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

“MFM.

This study formed part of MFM's master's dissertation.”

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 include your updated Competing Interests statement in your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

5. Thank you for stating the following in the Acknowledgments Section of your manuscript:

“We want to thank the Novartis (Excellence in Ophthalmology and Vision Award, XOVA) funded the project [grant number NPO 6240 R8898CPH]. The funder has not contributed to the design and the analysis of the study.”

We note that you have provided funding information that is currently declared in your Funding Statement. However, funding information should not appear in the Acknowledgments section or other areas of your manuscript. We will only publish funding information present in the Funding Statement section of the online submission form.

Please remove any funding-related text from the manuscript and let us know how you would like to update your Funding Statement. Currently, your Funding Statement reads as follows:

“YES.

VFC.

NPO 6240 R8898CPH

Novartis (Excellence in Ophthalmology and Vision Award, XOVA)

https://www.xova.novartis.com/#dwell

The funder did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript”

Please include your amended statements within your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

6. We note that you have stated that you will provide repository information for your data at acceptance. Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, we will hold it until you provide the relevant accession numbers or DOIs necessary to access your data. If you wish to make changes to your Data Availability statement, please describe these changes in your cover letter and we will update your Data Availability statement to reflect the information you provide.

7. 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:

Dear Authors

Thank you for your submission. This a good manuscript in its field. I have outlined the comments provided by reviewers.

Reviewer 1:

I have mentioned few suggestions below:

Abstract

1. Keywords: I suggest authors to arrange in alphabetical order.

2. Introduction: In line 60 and 78, kindly check the intext citation format. It should be similar. Also, in text citation should be in serial order.

Reviewer 2

Line 28: Kindly include your study duration.

Line 40: You can add your major finding as per your objective.

Line 46-123: Gross comment for Introduction section: Be more specific as per your objective. You can rearrange many points included in the introduction section to methodology section. It seems better. Writing all the methodological details will misguide the readers and they might be not interested. So, be specific in your introduction. Better to use 125 words.

Line 125: add study duration, you need to start with type of research design, approach etc not from ethical approval/ You need restructuring of your method section.

Line 195: Result section has few typo errors, kindly correct. Somewhere the syntax is not maintained. Kindly improve your syntax.

In your discussion, you need to add other social, political and economic factors that might be confounding variables. You need cautious interpretation.

In your conclusion: better not to write a conclusion which was beyond your scope of research. Actually, that needs further research.

In your reference, some typo errors noted, kindly rectify.

Kindly go through the comments and rectify your manuscript.

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

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

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

**********

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

**********

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: I have mentioned few suggestions below:

Abstract

1. Keywords: I suggest authors to arrange in alphabetical order.

2. Introduction: In line 60 and 78, kindly check the intext citation format. It should be similar. Also, in text citation should be in serial order.

Reviewer #2: Line 28: Kindly include your study duration.

Line 40: You can add your major finding as per your objective.

Line 46-123: Gross comment for Introduction section: Be more specific as per your objective. You can rearrange many points included in the introduction section to methodology section. It seems better. Writing all the methodological details will misguide the readers and they might be not interested. So, be specific in your introduction. Better to use 125 words.

Line 125: add study duration, you need to start with type of research design, approach etc not from ethical approval/ You need restructuring of your method section.

Line 195: Result section has few typo errors, kindly correct. Somewhere the syntax is not maintained. Kindly improve your syntax.

In your discussion, you need to add other social, political and economic factors that might be confounding variables. You need cautious interpretation.

In your conclusion: better not to write a conclusion which was beyond your scope of research. Actually, that needs further research.

In your reference, some typo errors noted, kindly rectify.

**********

6. 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: Yes: Heera KC

**********

[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 1

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

Response: Noted with changes made.

2. Please include a complete copy of PLOS’ questionnaire on inclusivity in global research in your revised manuscript. Our policy for research in this area aims to improve transparency in the reporting of research performed outside of researchers’ own country or community. The policy applies to researchers who have travelled to a different country to conduct research, research with Indigenous populations or their lands, and research on cultural artefacts. The questionnaire can also be requested at the journal’s discretion for any other submissions, even if these conditions are not met. Please find more information on the policy and a link to download a blank copy of the questionnaire here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/best-practices-in-research-reporting. Please upload a completed version of your questionnaire as Supporting Information when you resubmit your manuscript.

Response: We have now uploaded the completed form as Supporting Information.

3. Please provide additional details regarding participant consent. In the ethics statement in the Methods and online submission information, please ensure that you have specified what type you obtained (for instance, written or verbal, and if verbal, how it was documented and witnessed). If your study included minors, state whether you obtained consent from parents or guardians. If the need for consent was waived by the ethics committee, please include this information.

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

“MFM.

This study formed part of MFM’s master’s dissertation.”

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 include your updated Competing Interests statement in your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

Response: We have included the additional clause in the manuscript and cover letter.

5. Thank you for stating the following in the Acknowledgments Section of your manuscript:

“We want to thank the Novartis (Excellence in Ophthalmology and Vision Award, XOVA) funded the project [grant number NPO 6240 R8898CPH]. The funder has not contributed to the design and the analysis of the study.”

We note that you have provided funding information that is currently declared in your Funding Statement. However, funding information should not appear in the Acknowledgments section or other areas of your manuscript. We will only publish funding information present in the Funding Statement section of the online submission form.

Please remove any funding-related text from the manuscript and let us know how you would like to update your Funding Statement. Currently, your Funding Statement reads as follows:

“YES.

VFC.

NPO 6240 R8898CPH

Novartis (Excellence in Ophthalmology and Vision Award, XOVA)

https://www.xova.novartis.com/#dwell

The funder did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript”

Please include your amended statements within your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

Response: Amended.

6. We note that you have stated that you will provide repository information for your data at acceptance. Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, we will hold it until you provide the relevant accession numbers or DOIs necessary to access your data. If you wish to make changes to your Data Availability statement, please describe these changes in your cover letter and we will update your Data Availability statement to reflect the information you provide.

Response: We have now provided the doi number and the link to the dataset. (https://doi.org/10.17034/d32d197f-87fa-4c4c-bc08-b80e2e1c366d)

7. 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.

Response: We have checked the reference list to ensure its completeness and accuracy.

Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors

Thank you for your submission. This a good manuscript in its field. I have outlined the comments provided by reviewers.

Reviewer 1:

I have mentioned few suggestions below:

Abstract

1. Keywords: I suggest authors to arrange in alphabetical order.

Response: Amended.

2. Introduction: In line 60 and 78, kindly check the intext citation format. It should be similar. Also, in text citation should be in serial order.

Response: Amended. We have standardise the citation format and made sure they are in serial order.

Reviewer 2

Line 28: Kindly include your study duration.

Response: Yes. Included study duration in Line 28.

Line 40: You can add your major finding as per your objective.

Response: Amended to include the major finding (Older craftswomen perceived that correcting near vision could empower them at personal and relational levels that encompass economic, psychological, social, political and educational empowerment).

Line 46-123: Gross comment for Introduction section: Be more specific as per your objective. You can rearrange many points included in the introduction section to methodology section. It seems better. Writing all the methodological details will misguide the readers and they might be not interested. So, be specific in your introduction. Better to use 125 words.

Response: Thank you for the comment. We streamlined the introduction section by removing information that might be too much for the readers and moving some content to the methods section. We also ensured that the flow of the content is logical and relevant to the subject matter.

Line 125: add study duration, you need to start with type of research design, approach etc not from ethical approval/ You need restructuring of your method section.

Response: We have included the study duration in Line 165. We have restructured the methods section as best as possible by balancing Reviewer 2’s comments, PLoS ONE’s guidelines, the COREQ checklist and sample PLoS ONE publications on similar qualitative research.

Line 195: Result section has few typo errors, kindly correct. Somewhere the syntax is not maintained. Kindly improve your syntax.

Response: Thank you for pointing out the typos and syntax errors. They are now amended.

In your discussion, you need to add other social, political and economic factors that might be confounding variables. You need cautious interpretation.

Response: Thank you very much for this excellent point. Indeed, the visual map (previously as supplementary material, now made into Figure 1 as part of the manuscript) shows that the pathway to women’s empowerment via corrected near vision could be both straightforward and complex. The complexity is seen as the interactions between all the factors mentioned by Reviewer 2 that could have confounded and/or led to the perceptions of different aspects of empowerment. We included a paragraph explaining this.

In your conclusion: better not to write a conclusion which was beyond your scope of research. Actually, that needs further research.

Response: Thank you for the comment. We now streamlined the conclusion to only include the main findings, the implication of the findings and the need for further research.

In your reference, some typo errors noted, kindly rectify.

Response: Amended.

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - Surya Bahadur Parajuli, Editor

How does a pair of near-vision spectacle correction empower older Zanzibari craftswomen?: a qualitative study on perception

PONE-D-23-02677R1

Dear Dr. Ving Fai Chan

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,

Surya Bahadur Parajuli, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Surya Bahadur Parajuli, Editor

PONE-D-23-02677R1

How does a pair of near-vision spectacle correction empower older Zanzibari craftswomen?: a qualitative study on perception

Dear Dr. Chan:

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

Dr. Surya Bahadur Parajuli

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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