PONE-D-23-35055The development status and future trends of lubricant additives technology: based on patents analysisPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Li,

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Kind regards,

Venkatasubramanian Sivakumar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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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: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: 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

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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

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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 authors described “The development status and future trends of lubricant additives technology: based on patents analysis”. There are several major as well as minor mistakes in the manuscript. The authors are advised to check all the gaps and errors before its plausible publication in ‘PLOS ONE’.

1. How were the 77701 patents chosen? Were any specific filters applied to the Patsnap database, and if so, could these filters bias the results?

2. What specific methods were used to analyze both structured and unstructured data? Were there any limitations to these methods, and could they have affected the outcomes?

3. Was the Patsnap database chosen for specific reasons? Are there other databases that could have provided complementary information?

4. How were "countries with the largest number of patents" and "main exporting countries" quantified? Are there other ways to measure patent activity that could offer further insights?

5. How were "multifunctional composite additives" defined and identified? Are there other significant research areas that might have been overlooked?

6. How were "environmentally friendly additive compositions" identified as a research hotspot? Are there other metrics that could be used to assess research trends?

7. What specific criteria were used to determine the potential of "environmentally friendly and economically degradable additives"? Are there other factors that could influence their future success?

8. Does this study offer new insights into the lubricant additive field beyond what is already known? Does it contribute significantly to the understanding of research and application trends?

9. Are the findings of this study applicable to different types of lubricants and industries? Are there limitations to the generalizability of the conclusions?

10. The authors are advised to mention the potential future research directions suggested by this study. Are there any specific areas that need further investigation?

11. How does the research and development of lubricant additives compare to other related fields, such as tribology and surface engineering?

12. What are the biggest challenges facing the development of new and improved lubricant additives?

13. What are the ethical considerations associated with the use of lubricant additives?

14. There are so many typos and grammatical mistakes in the entire manuscript, that the authors are advised to rectify all these errors.

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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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The development status and future trends of lubricant additives technology: based on patents analysis

PONE-D-23-35055R1

Dear Dr. Li,

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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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,

Venkatasubramanian Sivakumar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Since, the Author has revised the Manuscript as per the comments of the Reviewer #1, the Manuscript shall be accepted for publication Plos One..

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

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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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

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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: The authors have responded all the queries very nicely and subsequently upgraded the manuscript as per the suggestions. So, the manuscript may be accepted for plausible publication in its current form.

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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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