Peer Review History
| Original SubmissionJanuary 12, 2023 |
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PONE-D-23-01016Exclusive breastfeeding among beneficiaries of a nutrition enhancement programme and its associated factors in GhanaPLOS ONE Dear Dr. Adokiya, 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 Apr 09 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:
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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 2. In your Data Availability statement, you have not specified where the minimal data set underlying the results described in your manuscript can be found. PLOS defines a study's minimal data set as the underlying data used to reach the conclusions drawn in the manuscript and any additional data required to replicate the reported study findings in their entirety. All PLOS journals require that the minimal data set be made fully available. For more information about our data policy, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability. Upon re-submitting your revised manuscript, please upload your study’s minimal underlying data set as either Supporting Information files or to a stable, public repository and include the relevant URLs, DOIs, or accession numbers within your revised cover letter. For a list of acceptable repositories, please see http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-recommended-repositories. Any potentially identifying patient information must be fully anonymized. Important: If there are ethical or legal restrictions to sharing your data publicly, please explain these restrictions in detail. Please see our guidelines for more information on what we consider unacceptable restrictions to publicly sharing data: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability#loc-unacceptable-data-access-restrictions. Note that it is not acceptable for the authors to be the sole named individuals responsible for ensuring data access. We will update your Data Availability statement to reflect the information you provide in your cover letter. 3. Please include captions for your Supporting Information files at the end of your manuscript, and update any in-text citations to match accordingly. Please see our Supporting Information guidelines for more information: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/supporting-information. 4. 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. [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: Partly Reviewer #2: Yes ********** 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: I Don't Know 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: The study is important and will be of interest to an international audience. The written text would benefit from academic mentoring to strengthen unsupported claims and add substance to the conclusion ( rather than repeating the results). Statements need supporting from the evidence unless they are common knowledge for example, in the introduction, the points on boost to immune system, 36% global EBF, and Australia's EBF at 96% are all without citations to support the claim and the entire manuscript needs to be revised for this point. See also p13 A study in Australia found 9/10 children EBF at birth, no citation. Citation 12 is used to emphasize initiation of breastfeeding on the rise in Nigeria, yet the date of publication is 2010 and initiation does stray from the main point of EBF and this should be brought out in the text and not left to the reader to work it through. 'Adolescent' needs to be defined by age as used in this study ( and supported by literature) for an international audience. It needs to be stated if the ENVAC project captured data on prevalence of EBF, as the readers may consider the point. Study design, a diagram of the regions and numbers and levels of subgroups in the areas would be helpful for readers to visualize the communities. The important point is not to repeat what has already been stated well once. There is repetition on the mother child pairs which could be trimmed back. The use of the word 'targeted' on p7 sounds as though the participants were not voluntary participants, perhaps the word 'invited' could be used instead. Please describe the purposive sampling exactly and why this was necessary, and the random sampling and how this was done exactly. How was data collected, was it only by interview, that is all that they consented to? The definition of EBF in some studies includes no medicine, have you made your position clear on this ? P8 When reporting statistics it is preferable to use the same number of decimal places throughout see p9 68% v 92.6% (2 v 3 places). P10 mean age of children needs to be expressed as 'months'. Child not being sick as a predictor of EBF is rather a confusing way to report what is occurring the other way around- EBF a predictor that a child wont be sick, if other triggers are controlled for. The authors need to add to the conclusion on this. Reviewer #2: The current study looked at the exclusive breastfeeding rate (EBF) and its determinants among beneficiaries of a WFP-sponsored programme in Ghana's northern region. The authors reported a high prevalence of EBF and identified maternal education, a sickness episode in the previous two weeks, and the source of household drinking water as important determinants of EBF in the study setting. Overall, this is an important topic for the study setting. The study design and analytical techniques are sound in order to achieve the study's objectives. The manuscript is also well written in standard English. However, there are a few issues that must be addressed before the manuscript can be considered for publication in PLOS ONE. General observations: The manuscript requires extensive copyediting to correct grammar issues such as incorrect sentence structure, missing punctuation or articles, and inconsistent font size. A conceptual framework should also guide the variables included as potential predictors, as some do not have a scientific basis. The following are some specific remarks: Abstract When you use including, you want to show that there are many but only highlight a few. When the exact number of pillars is specified, the word namely is more appropriate. Make the study's purpose more specific; what about EBF was measured? Furthermore, the goal is stated as if the EBF rate was determined among women and children. The entire purpose sentence should be revised. The sentence “Participants were lactating women who benefitted from the ENVAC project using Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) and facilitated access to Complementary Nutritious Foods (CNF) through market and vouchers.” is confusing … those whose children or child? Introduction The introduction is well-written, and the problem is clearly stated and justified. Nonetheless, the authors should ensure that the manuscript is thoroughly copyedited; there are missing punctuations and font sizes that do not match other text within the manuscript. Methods Authors may have to redefine the study’s target population for clarity The study does not state whether the six purposefully chosen facilities were distributed evenly between the two areas, Sagnarigu and Tamale Metropolitan. It also does not specify how the overall sample was distributed among the various facilities chosen. Outcome variable: more information is needed to define the outcome variable properly. What was the recall period for giving breastmilk or foods? Exposure variable: I am surprised by the study variables' conceptualization, including the use of sickness in the previous two weeks as a potential predictor variable. EBF primarily affects children in their first six months of life. As a result, it will be interesting to learn from the current study that an exposure after 6 months predicts an outcome that occurred long before the exposure. Results The sample size needed to achieve the study's objectives was 340. 339 people were interviewed, however. Given that no adjustments were made to the sample size to account for non-response, not interviewing all 340 women has implications for generalising the findings. That should be addressed adequately. Table 1: The mean age of the children can be placed alongside their age variable. The categorisation of the timing of initiation of breastfeeding is problematic. Any child who was breastfed within 30 minutes is still eligible for the within 1 hour group. That should be reconsidered. Furthermore, did all of the women say they had ever breastfed? When the denominator is clearly indicated or defined, the EBF rate is easier to understand and interpret. Multivariate analysis: “… household main source of water of being pipe-borne were significantly associated with EBF” what does it mean? Furthermore, the narrative discusses the factors associated with EBF in general, so there is no need to attempt to indicate the direction when it is captured in the sentence following. What method was used to fit the multivariable model? Table 3 lacks variables such as maternal age categories and marital status. What factors influenced the exclusion of these variables? The section on data analysis mentioned comparison tests. I am curious what role they played in the current study. Discussion “A previous study reported a prevalence of about 70.0% of EBF in southern Ghana [24]. Though, there are geographical differences between northern and southern Ghana.” means? The explanation for the difference in prevalence rate between health facility-based designs and population-based designs is not entirely justifiable. The authors contend that the participants recruited at the health facility are distinct from community members. The question is where did those women come from? Similarly, the explanation for the link between water source and EBF may be implausible. Given the authors' explanation, I am wondering if the EBF rates will differ between women who fetch water from pipped sources and those who fetch from wells, assuming the travel distance is the same or similar. The current study's design and limited number of exposure variables should be viewed as significant limitations by the authors. Conclusion: check error ********** 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: Dr Michael Boah ********** [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 |
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PONE-D-23-01016R1Exclusive breastfeeding among beneficiaries of a nutrition enhancement programme and its associated factors in GhanaPLOS ONE Dear Dr. Adokiya, 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. cols: These article types are not expected to include results but may include pilot data. ============================== Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 18 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:
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, Neetu Choudhary, PhD Academic Editor PLOS ONE Journal Requirements: 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: Thank you for your revisions! However, the conclusion still needs revision. Please note the conclusion is not just summary of results. You can include key observations with some future implications. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] [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 |
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Exclusive breastfeeding among beneficiaries of a nutrition enhancement programme and its associated factors in Ghana PONE-D-23-01016R2 Dear Dr. Adokia, 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, Neetu Choudhary, PhD Academic Editor PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Reviewers' comments: |
| Formally Accepted |
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PONE-D-23-01016R2 Exclusive breastfeeding among beneficiaries of a nutrition enhancement programme and its associated factors in Ghana Dear Dr. Adokiya: 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. Neetu Choudhary Academic Editor PLOS ONE |
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