PONE-D-23-12553Quaternary Rodents of South Africa: A companion guide for cranio-dental identificationPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Linchamps,

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ACADEMIC EDITOR:Kindly read the comment from the reviewer and address it in the revised manuscript.

1. suggest that authors could display some pictures of digestion that could eventually have taxonomic repercussion.

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Kind regards,

Mohmed Isaqali Karobari, BDS, MScD.Endo, MFDS.RCPS Glasg, Ph.D. scholar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

Kindly read the comment from the reviewer and address it in the revised manuscript.

1. suggest that authors could display some pictures of digestion that could eventually have taxonomic repercussion.

Best regards and keep well

[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: N/A

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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: 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: This manuscript is an excellent work. It will be useful both in current studies that include taxonomic determinations of rodents from southern Africa, as well as in work on faunal assemblages from the Quaternary period of the area.

I congratulate the authors for this contribution.

Reviewer #2: I can only say to the authors: Thanks and congratulations. This is a Master PIece extraordinary useful and no doubt that it will be extensively used and referred. The authors count with the main South African experts in taxonomic small mammal identifications. Among the authors there are also taphonomists and I would maybe suggest that they could display some pictures of digestion that could eventually have taxonomic repercussion. Apart from this suggestion, I again congratulate the initiative and the complete guide of identification that this paper is.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: YOLANDA FERNANDEZ JALVO

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Quaternary Rodents of South Africa: A companion guide for cranio-dental identification

PONE-D-23-12553R1

Dear Dr. Linchamps,

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.

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Kind regards,

Mohmed Isaqali Karobari, BDS, MScD.Endo, MFDS.RCPS Glasg, Ph.D. scholar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Dear Authors,

The authors have addressed all the comments and manuscript has improved much. I would like to wish all the very best for the authors for their future endeavors.

Best regards and keep well

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: 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 #1: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

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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: 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: 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 #1: I suggest the publication of this manuscript. It is very interesting and it will be a very useful tool for scholars of the fauna of the study area.

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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

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