PONE-D-23-04534Reliability and validity of the Forgotten Joint Score-12 for total ankle replacement and ankle arthrodesisPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yamaguchi,

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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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

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Fatih Özden, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Please find the reviewer reports below. Kind Regards

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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: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: I Don't Know

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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: No

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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: Dear authors,

this is an interesting study and should have been conducted earlier, this will help the F&A society to improve outcome measurements. I have the following comments:

- English could be shortened

- Spelling mistakes on page 12 line 201 and 202

-Why did you not statistic testing on patients groups (Tbl1)

These are minor issues and the excellent study is worth publishing in my view.

Best regards

Reviewer #2: The manuscript aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese Forgotten Joint Score-12 (FJS-12) in patients with total ankle replacement (TAR) and ankle arthrodesis (AA). The manuscript is interesting, well-written, and presented in an organized fashion. I have only one comment on the work as presented below:

1- Abstract, please report the SEM and MDC in the Results section. As well, the Conclusion should consider that the Japanese version has been evaluated for metric characteristics and found reliable and valid.

2- Please use appropriate statistical test to compare the two groups of TAR and AA on the FJS-12 scores. The result may indicate the discriminant ability of the questionnaire.

Reviewer #3: The authors have provided a purposeful and unique study. A comprhensive English editing is required to shorten the length of the sentences and also grammatical issues should be handled to improve the comprehensibility of the paper. Alsa, formula based sample size calculation is required.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Noureddin Nakhostin Ansari

Reviewer #3: No

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PONE-D-23-04534R1Reliability and validity of the Forgotten Joint Score-12 for total ankle replacement and ankle arthrodesisPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yamaguchi,

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.

Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

Please find one of the reviewers' comments, both major and minor issues raised. I look forward your corrected paper soon.

Best Regards

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 08 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,

Fatih Özden, 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.

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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 #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: 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

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #3: 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 #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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: I appreciate the efforts of the authors in revising the manuscript. The manuscript looks better, but there are still issues that is required to be addressed.

Abstract

1- Results, please report the results on know-group validity.

2- Conclusions, lines 55-57 are repetitions with results. I would suggest omitting them.

Introduction

1- Page 6, line 87, "I would suggest omitting "effectiveness" and inserting "usefulness", please.

Metods

1- Page 10, line 171, please clarify the statement on the confirmation of 75% of hypotheses for construct validity in the context of your study.

2- Page 10, line 172, please analyze the exploratory factor analysis considering all the data on Japanese FJS-12 from both groups (n==115) .

3- Page 10, line 177, on ICC, Please clarify, Single measure or average measure? Further, absolute or consistency? ICC agreement was used? Please also provide reason/reasons for using the two-way mixed-effects model.

4- Page 11, line 191, how 63 patients were calculatedfor sample size? Terwee et al (2007) suggest at least 100 patients. This needs clarification.

Results

1- Page 12, Table 1, last coloumn, please report the tests used along with p values.

2- Page 17, lines 253-259, you were needed to analyze the floor and ceiling effects for FJS-12 scores. You may omit reports findings on the floor and ceiling effects for SAFE-Q scores and EQ-5D-5L. Please clarify it.

Discussion

1- This section should also focus on the examination of the Japanese FJS-12 scores known-group validity that was not confirmed. Findings on the factor analysis should also considered for the revised paper.

2- Page 20, Conclusions, please avoid repetitions of the results and focus instead on the outcomes of the study, and whether you were successful in addressing the gaps as already stated in the Introduction.

Reviewer #3: Thanks for your revision. The manuscript is now suitable for publication regarding my point of view.

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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: Yes: Noureddin Nakhostin Ansari

Reviewer #3: 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.

Reliability and validity of the Forgotten Joint Score-12 for total ankle replacement and ankle arthrodesis

PONE-D-23-04534R2

Dear Dr. Yamaguchi,

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.

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Kind regards,

Fatih Özden, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: