Peer Review History

Original SubmissionApril 18, 2023
Decision Letter - Radoslaw Wolniak, Editor

PONE-D-23-09730Examining Workweek Variations in Computer Usage Patterns: An Application of Ergonomic Monitoring SoftwarePLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Benden,

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.

Kind regards,

Radoslaw Wolniak, full professor

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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   "This research was funded by the Texas A&M University Ergonomics Center."

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Additional Editor Comments:

The Authors should adjust the paper according to the Reviewers comments.

[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

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: 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: No

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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

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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 article is factually correct. The article concerns current scientific issues. The study assessed computer use as an indicator of performance. The data was collected from 789 office workers over two years at a major Texas energy company. The analysis and conclusions are correct. The literature is selected correctly. Graphic elements complement the content and are made carefully. The tables are legible and understandable. I don't feel qualified to judge about the English language and style. In my opinion, the article can be published.

Reviewer #2: A manuscript with a very interesting title; however, the work needs some improvements. In the abstract, I recommend adding when exactly the research was conducted.

Introduction. I recommend highlighting what is novel in the work and what gap is filled by the work. At this point, I also suggest briefly describing how the manuscript is organized.

Methodology. In this section, respondents require a more robust characterization. I recommend adding information about their age, gender, work experience, how they were selected for the study, and what exactly their office work consisted of. On line 93, the author writes that: "Additionally, we assumed that." I don't quite understand why the plural is used since the author is the sole author of the work.

Conclusion: very short, too general, needs a lot of refinement.

I also recommend adding more 2022 and 2023 literature.

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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.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Revision 1

Response to Reviewers

Manuscript ID: PONE-D-23-09730

Manuscript Title: Examining Workweek Variations in Computer Usage Patterns: An Application of Ergonomic Monitoring Software

Response to Reviewer 1’s Comments:

Reviewer #1: The article is factually correct. The article concerns current scientific issues. The study assessed computer use as an indicator of performance. The data was collected from 789 office workers over two years at a major Texas energy company. The analysis and conclusions are correct. The literature is selected correctly. Graphic elements complement the content and are made carefully. The tables are legible and understandable. I don't feel qualified to judge about the English language and style. In my opinion, the article can be published.

Response: Thank you for your comments and feedback on our manuscript.

Response to Reviewer 2’s Comments:

Reviewer #2: A manuscript with a very interesting title; however, the work needs some improvements.

1. In the abstract, I recommend adding when exactly the research was conducted.

Response: We have now included the specific time period (January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2018) during which data was collected in the abstract.

2. Introduction. I recommend highlighting what is novel in the work and what gap is filled by the work. At this point, I also suggest briefly describing how the manuscript is organized.

Response: We have updated the Introduction section as recommended by the reviewer. In addition, we have included a brief description of the organization of the manuscript at the end of the Introduction.

3. Methodology. In this section, respondents require a more robust characterization. I recommend adding information about their age, gender, work experience, how they were selected for the study, and what exactly their office work consisted of.

Response: This pilot study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of ergonomic software in assessing performance trends. Unfortunately, we were unable to collect detailed individual-level data such as age, gender, and work experience. We have included this information as a limitation of our study in the discussion section. Despite this limitation, our preliminary data has shown promising results, and we plan to expand our study by collecting more data from participants and conducting a more comprehensive analysis as the reviewer recommended.

4. On line 93, the author writes that: "Additionally, we assumed that." I don't quite understand why the plural is used since the author is the sole author of the work.

Response: We used the plural form in this study because it was conducted by six scholars. However, we have revised our writing to use the passive voice instead of active voice.

5. Conclusion: very short, too general, needs a lot of refinement.

Response: I agree with the reviewer's comment, and we have taken their feedback into consideration by elaborating and refining the conclusion section further.

6. I also recommend adding more 2022 and 2023 literature.

Response: We added more recent literature in the revision (now, 14 references published in 2022 and 2023, and 14 references published in 2020 and 2021.

Thank you for your comments and feedback on our manuscript. We want to thank you for the time and effort you put into reviewing this manuscript. Your comments have helped contribute to improving the quality of the manuscript.

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx
Decision Letter - Radoslaw Wolniak, Editor

Examining Workweek Variations in Computer Usage Patterns: An Application of Ergonomic Monitoring Software

PONE-D-23-09730R1

Dear Dr. Benden,

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,

Radoslaw Wolniak, full professor

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

**********

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

Reviewer #2: 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

**********

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 manuscript has been improved in accordance with recommendations.The authors improved both the abstract, methodology, and conclusion sections. The manuscript looks legible. Thank you.

**********

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

**********

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Radoslaw Wolniak, Editor

PONE-D-23-09730R1

Examining Workweek Variations in Computer Usage Patterns: An Application of Ergonomic Monitoring Software

Dear Dr. Benden:

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

Professor Radoslaw Wolniak

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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