PONE-D-24-06290The Nexus Between Attitudes and Self-Concept of Gifted Students in an Arab ContextPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Opoku,

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,

Sanaa Kaddoura, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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   "Office of the Associate Provost for Research at United Arab Emirates University."  

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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

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: No

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: No

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: I highly recommend mentioning the selection method related to the sampling and citing it with relevant literature.

• The current study drew on Gifted students from private schools as they were running enrichment program for GT students. The decision to include students in private schools was based on the fact that permission ADEK granted permission to include students on their high-ability roster.

I highly recommend mentioning the selection method related to the sampling here and citing it with relevant literature.

• I highly recommend redrawing Figure One for clarity.
• All the references are extremely outdated; I highly recommend using recent resources.

Here are some recommendations

• Choosing between the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the technology acceptance model (TAM)

• Control Interactions in the Theory of Planned Behavior: Rethinking the Role of Subjective Norm
• Theory of Planned Behavior
•  The Handbook of Behavior Change
• Kindly replace the keywords with these terms and phrases to better suit the article’s focus.
• For instance, keeping gifted and talented students phrase suits the article however, I would suggest removing ( enrichment; acceleration; United Arab Emirates) since the paper does not tackle all the schools in UAE, so we better not generalize the paper’s findings.
• Major language edits need to be performed.  Major revisions are needed when it comes to language correctness, kindly either use Grammarly premium or consult external editors to perfect the language to make sure it meets the highest standards.
• I find this section as being irrelevant and serves an academic purpose

  “ The UAE is an Arab country in Western Asia which is made up of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Umm Al Quwain. Since independence in 1971, the leadership of the country has placed education at the heart of national development [19]. The UAE adopted inclusive education practices at the turn of the 21st century. Specifically, the central government provides educational plans for all students [37]. In 2008, the “School for All” policy was launched by the Ministry of Education, encouraging schools to provide suitable teaching services to high-achieving children [19].

• Instead, the authors could have mentioned a more detailed overview or a comparative approach to how the educational system witnessed massive changes over time. The references do not provide credibility to the topic, as they are extremely outdated and need to be replaced.
• The research design is not clear.
• The methodology section’s structure needs to be revised.
• “ The instrument was made up of three sections. The first section was used to collect demographic”. Kindly use academic referencing here; it cannot be stated as a passive statement.”
• Following the standard academic publishing outline, it is advised to follow the following paper structure

Introduction

Background

Literature Review

Significance \\ Contribution

Methods

Design

Data Collection Data Analysis

Discussion

Conclusion

Recommendations and Future Research

It is more advised to clearly identify these sections as mentioned in  the above subheading divisions.

• Major sentence structure revisions are needed.
• For instance

Google Forms was employed as a virtual platform for data collection because restrictions brought by COVID-19 pandemic.  (This sentence is confusing).

A better version would be

“ Google Forms were employed for data collection because of mobility challenges imposed  by COVID-19 pandemic.”

Here, another question arises: when was the study conducted? The pandemic was in 2020-2022, and we are now in the 2024-2025 academic year. As it is stated in the paper

The data was collected from May 2022 to July 2022. Where most educational institutions went back to Hybrid and onsite attendance which means there is no clear justification for doing online surveys. You may remove the mention of covid 19 in the above statement and relate it to the reasoning behind selecting such a method.

• Major language confusions need to be clarified. For example, consider the examples below

“ Non-Western countries’ contribution of research in gifted education is limited, despite the fact that some have adopted policies to foster the growth of exceptional students.”

Based on what did you come up with this claim? Which non-western countries?

• In the methodology section, these need to be clarified

150 high school students in one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates to test two hypotheses. Which location? Which school? This cannot be stated as a general statement.

• Criteria bias

“The participants of this study were GT high school students nominated by their schools to participate in an enrichment program.”

This seems a bit unreliable, for instance, what is the selection method used? 

• Major language highlights that demand immediate attention

• Subject-verb agreement
• Kindly note that in many cases, needless capital letters are used, so please revise.

Reviewer #2: Th researchers apply ethical consideration. The data are analyzed comprehensively.

The researchers need to edit the first research question as follows:

'What are the differences between..."

- Indent the beginning of all paragraphs.

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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: Yes: Fatima Al Husseiny

Reviewer #2: Yes: Jana Mohammad Saab

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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.

PONE-D-24-06290R1The Nexus Between Attitudes and Self-Concept of Gifted Students in an Arab ContextPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Opoku,

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 Jun 07 2024 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,

Sanaa Kaddoura, Ph.D.

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 #1: All comments have been addressed

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 #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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 #1: No

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 #1: No

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 #1: I highly recommend you reviewing the language correctness through Grammarly. The paper needs language edits, for this, working on the sentence structure and adjusting the language flaws will enhance the quality of the paper.

Reviewer #2: The authors did the previous edits that were required previously. I do recommend that this paper is ready to be published.

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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: Yes: Fatima Amine Al Hussseiny

Reviewer #2: Yes: Jana Mohammad Saab

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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.

Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-06290_R1.pdf

The Nexus Between Attitudes and Self-Concept of Gifted Students in an Arab Context

PONE-D-24-06290R2

Dear Dr. Opoku,

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 will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. If you have any questions relating to publication charges, 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,

Sanaa Kaddoura, Ph.D.

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 #1: All comments have been addressed

**********

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: 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 #1: No

**********

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: After reviewing this paper again, I confirm that the authors adjusted previous comments and enhanced the paper's outcome. I only have two concerns:

1- Kindly make the data fully available as per PLOS One guidelines

2- Perform another round of language editing for general minor correctness.

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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: Yes: Fatima Al Husseiny

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