Female Brain and Endocrinological Research–Veteran (FemBER-Vet) study: A study protocol for identifying endocrinological, lifestyle and psychosocial determinants of brain health outcomes in female veterans for future intervention success

Tamlyn Watermeyer; Elliott Atkinson; Glyn Howatson; Gill McGill; Christina Dodds; Paul Ansdell; Chinedu Udeh-Momoh

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0306149

Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJune 25, 2024
28 Jun 2024 Decision Letter - Steve Zimmerman, Editor PONE-D-24-18322Female Brain and Endocrinological Research – Veteran (FemBER-Vet) Study: A study protocol for identifying endocrinological, lifestyle and psychosocial determinants of brain health outcomes in female veterans for future intervention successPLOS ONE Dear Dr. Watermeyer, 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. Thank you for providing us with all the documents we have requested, including peer-reviewed external funding. Because your protocol has already undergone peer review as part of the funding process, I do not think we need to send your manuscript out for additional peer review. However, there is one minor issue that needs to be addressed before we can accept your protocol for publication: Please could you change "female” or "male" to "woman” or "man" as appropriate, when used as a noun (see for instance https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/gender). Please submit your revised manuscript by Aug 11 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, Steve Zimmerman, PhD Senior Editor, PLOS ONE Journal Requirements: When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements. 1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf 2. Thank you for stating the following financial disclosure: "Office for Veteran Affairs [G2-SCH-2022-11-12245]." Please state what role the funders took in the study. If the funders had no role, please state: ""The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."" If this statement is not correct you must amend it as needed. Please include this amended Role of Funder statement in your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf. 3. Please provide a complete Data Availability Statement in the submission form, ensuring you include all necessary access information or a reason for why you are unable to make your data freely accessible. If your research concerns only data provided within your submission, please write "All data are in the manuscript and/or supporting information files" as your Data Availability Statement. 4. 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. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] [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. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306149.r001
Revision 1
19 Jul 2024 Author Response WE have now updated the langue in accordance with your preferences. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306149.r002
26 Jul 2024 Decision Letter - Steve Zimmerman, Editor PONE-D-24-18322R1Female Brain and Endocrinological Research – Veteran (FemBER-Vet) Study: A study protocol for identifying endocrinological, lifestyle and psychosocial determinants of brain health outcomes in female veterans for future intervention successPLOS ONE Dear Dr. Watermeyer, 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. Although you indicated that you have revised the manuscript, there are some issues with the files that form your submission: 1) The file called "manuscript" is the original manuscript, not the revised ms. Please replace this with an unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'. 2) The file called "Revised Manuscript with Track Changes" does appear to be a revised manuscript, but (a) there are no track changes, and (b) "female" is still used as a noun in several places. Please replace this with 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'. Please submit your revised manuscript by Sep 08 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, Steve Zimmerman, PhD Senior 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. [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] [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. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306149.r003
Revision 2
26 Jul 2024 Author Response Dear Dr Zimmerman, RE: PLOS ONE Decision: Revision required [PONE-D-24-18322] - [EMID:b6c6dd189fed26f4] Thank you for your further comments, please see responses below, in turn. 1) The file called "manuscript" is the original manuscript, not the revised ms. Please replace this with an unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'. Apologies, I did not realise I also need to provide a clean version again at this stage, I have updated this as a clean version now. 2) The file called "Revised Manuscript with Track Changes" does appear to be a revised manuscript, but (a) there are no track changes, and (b) "female" is still used as a noun in several places. Please replace this with 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'. I am not sure why you cannot see track changes, as these are showing for me. I have now highlighted these in yellow so they are more obvious. As with regards to language, I have updated the manuscript in accordance with your preference as much as possible. I have also reviewed the new updated manuscript and run it through AI to identify places where updating of nouns to woman/women are still outstanding. I believe this is now complete as much as possible. However, if you are referring to references such as “ female military veterans” in stead of “women military veterans” where it is being used as a gerund, I am afraid that I am reluctant to update this to the latter. We work closely with our military and LGBTQIA+ stakeholders surrounding language for this project. The draft was subject to review for language on gender by LBTQIA+ pilot military and civilian participants and the term female and male as nouns were chosen to designate sex assigned at birth reference by them. Nonetheless, I have made these changes as you have asked. This preference was shown also by non-pilot participants but who were two members of the trans community. Respectfully, we write for, and are dedicated to upholding the preferences of, our stakeholders and I would be reluctant to make further changes to the gerunds as described above. It is difficult to anticipate all preferences, but I would suggest that the APA guidance is not relevant for local North-East of UK preferences at least amongst our LGBTQIA+ and military stakeholders. Sincerely, Tam Dr Tamlyn Watermeyer Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: RESPONSE.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306149.r004
5 Aug 2024 Decision Letter - Steve Zimmerman, Editor Female Brain and Endocrinological Research – Veteran (FemBER-Vet) Study: A study protocol for identifying endocrinological, lifestyle and psychosocial determinants of brain health outcomes in female veterans for future intervention success PONE-D-24-18322R2 Dear Dr. Watermeyer, 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, Steve Zimmerman, PhD Senior Editor, PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Reviewers' comments: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306149.r005
Formally Accepted
19 Aug 2024 Acceptance Letter - Steve Zimmerman, Editor PONE-D-24-18322R2 PLOS ONE Dear Dr. Watermeyer, I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now being handed over to our production team. At this stage, our production department will prepare your paper for publication. This includes ensuring the following: * All references, tables, and figures are properly cited * All relevant supporting information is included in the manuscript submission, * There are no issues that prevent the paper from being properly typeset If revisions are needed, the production department will contact you directly to resolve them. If no revisions are needed, you will receive an email when the publication date has been set. At this time, we do not offer pre-publication proofs to authors during production of the accepted work. Please keep in mind that we are working through a large volume of accepted articles, so please give us a few weeks to review your paper and let you know the next and final steps. Lastly, 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 customercare@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 Dr Steve Zimmerman Staff Editor PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306149.r006

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