PONE-D-23-01150Optimization and inventory management under stochastic demand using metaheuristic algorithmPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. You,

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.

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Seyedali Mirjalili

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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"This research was supported by Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST) funded by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea (20220573)"

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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: No

Reviewer #2: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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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

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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

Reviewer #2: 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: This manuscript considers multi-period inventory systems for optimizing profit and storage space under stochastic demand in supply chain management. A nonlinear programming model based on random demand is proposed to simulate the inventory operation. . Adequate revisions to the following points should be undertaken to justify the recommendation for publication.

� The abstract section is fragile. Please re-write an abstract section, explain an obtained result and contribution, improve a proposed method, etc. Please delete unnecessary information.

� This paper has more than spelling and grammatical errors. Please fix all of them.

� The authors should clearly state the limitations of the proposed method in other applications.

� There are many multi-objective GWO algorithms in the literature, what is the difference between your algorithm with theirs?

� Please add a flowchart of the proposed method.

� The related work section is missing; please add this section. And make the Introduction and related work sections more productive using the following articles. Reading and using these articles:

o https://doi.org/10.1007/s00354-022-00188-w

o https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00288-9

o https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-021-01369-9

� References are not up to date and not enough. Please improve this item.

� How did the authors set parameters for your proposed algorithm? Please make sensitivities of these parameters to the performance of your proposed algorithm!

� All the structural problems in this study are very popular, therefore the authors are suggested to compare with results obtained from previous studies to convince the power of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, these structural problems are very easy, please try to solve other complex problems.

� The authors should provide the code of your proposed algorithm.

� Please write a contribution to your paper in the Introduction section.

� Please change the title of the end section (Conclusion) to (Conclusion and Future Works), and write some future works.

� Please use a new comparison algorithm, such as the Farmland fertility algorithm, African Vultures Optimization Algorithm, Mountain Gazelle Optimizer, and Artificial Gorilla Troops Optimizer.

� Expand the critical results in the conclusion. Focus on the main developments in the finale. Also, write the main contributions in the conclusion.

� Numerical results are good enough, but more explanations are required to analyze each figure presented.

� All figures have low quality, and please improve all of them.

Good luck

Reviewer #2: 1. The novelty and findings of this study are not stated in the Abstract, and it is recommended to rewrite it.

2. The English language needs significant revision.

3. The title cannot reflect this problem and novelty, and it is recommended to revise it.

4. The contributions of this study should be summarized at the end of the Introduction.

5. This study suffers from a lack of an in-depth literature review on the problem of this study and recent metaheuristic algorithms through which reviewing the following recent algorithms are recommended. Quantum-based avian navigation optimizer algorithm, An improved moth-flame optimization algorithm with adaptation mechanism to solve numerical and mechanical engineering problems, DMDE: Diversity-maintained multi-trial vector differential evolution algorithm for non-decomposition large-scale global optimization, Migration-based moth-flame optimization algorithm, and Starling murmuration optimizer: A novel bio-inspired algorithm for global and engineering optimization.

6. The nomenclature table is recommended for the parameters used in all equations.

7. The importance of this study is not clear why the new multi-objective version of GWO is proposed.

8. Please check the title "3. Multi-objective optimization using grey wolf optimizer".

9. This study's novelty is unclear, and it is suggested to consider the proposed method section and explain your novelty clearly.

10. The claims of this study should be stated, and the authors explain which experimental evaluation can support their claims.

11. It is recommended to check the pseudocode of the multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO).

12. It is recommended to compare MOGWO with other multi-objective algorithms.

13. The Conclusion should be extended to include more details regarding the limitations of the proposed study.

14. The nonparametric statistical test is recommended.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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PONE-D-23-01150R1Optimization and inventory management under stochastic demand using metaheuristic algorithmPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. You,

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 Jun 16 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.

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: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Seyedali Mirjalili

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: N/A

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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: (No Response)

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: (No Response)

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: From the response letter, I think the paper has been well revised according to the previous reviewers, and the current version of the manuscript is acceptable for publication.

Reviewer #2: Thank the authors for responding to some of the comments; however, they have not responded to some of the suggested comments adequately. I recommend authors address the following issues before accepting for publication.

1. It is recommended to revise a paper based on the journal's guidelines. The style of references should be revised, and some sentences and abbreviations of the algorithm need references. Please check the following paragraph. "Lately, the following approaches have attracted extensive attention in solving various problems owing to their…"

2. The realted work still can be improved by adding more recent algorithms as well as their applications.

3. In Fig. 4, the arrows of boxes t+1 and the calculated fitness value should be rechecked.

4. The description of equations 15 and 16 should be revised.

5. The claims of this study should be stated, and the authors explain which experimental evaluation can support their claims.

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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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[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.

Optimization and inventory management under stochastic demand using metaheuristic algorithm

PONE-D-23-01150R2

Dear Dr. You,

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,

Seyedali Mirjalili

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 #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 #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #2: N/A

**********

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 #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 #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 #2: The authors have responded to most of the comments, and I recommend accepting the revised manuscript for publication after careful checking and correcting some minor changes, for example:

- "QANO" should be changed to "QANA".

- "Sahoo et al. [15] presented the Migration-based ..." should be changed to "Nadimi-Shahraki et al. [15] presented the Migration-based ...".

- Reference number 15, referring to the M-MFO algorithm, should be corrected.

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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 #2: No

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