PONE-D-23-41017“I became a person again”: Social Inclusion and participation experiences of Ethiopian women post-Obstetric Fistula surgical repair.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Debele,

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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Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 03 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.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Sidrah Nausheen, FCPS

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.

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2. Thank you for stating the following financial disclosure: "Tibeb Debele received funding from the Mastercard Foundation and Queen's University dean's travel grant. "  

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."" 

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Please include this amended Role of Funder statement in your cover letter; we will change the online submission form on your behalf.

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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 If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references.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 If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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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: 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?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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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: Fistula skill are required to fix this problem of women. In developing countries fistula still remains the mainstay of problem, more of such publications are required in big centers like Ethiopia to highlight the impact on quality of life.

Reviewer #2: This is a comprehensive exploration of the lived experiences of women with Obstetric Fistula (OF), covering almost all relevant aspects of social participation and inclusive experiences. The inclusion of actual words and statements from the patients has supported the confirmability.

However, there are some areas that require consideration:

1.The manuscript is excessively lengthy (50 pages), which diverts readers' attention from the key messages. Adjusting the word count and reducing repetition of concepts and content would improve readability. Additionally, the format should align more closely with that of an article rather than a thesis.

2.The content of the tables shows duplication of the term "vesicovaginal fistula," which appears to be a typo error. Consistency in the number of digits after the decimal point should be ensured throughout, and percentages should sum up to 100 for the presented data.

3.The document requires a thorough review for minor language flow and grammatical errors.

4.Details are missing regarding how privacy was ensured during interviews conducted in various locations, such as churches and homes.

5.Additionally, information on the data collection process, interview timings, and participant selection criteria would enhance transparency and reproducibility.

6.What measures were taken to ensure reflexivity and transparency regarding the researcher's biases and assumptions should be elaborated upon.

7.Evidence of data saturation should be provided to ensure completeness of data collection.

8.Differences in experiences and inclusiveness based on factors such as the type of fistula, duration since surgery, and the extent of incontinence or number of surgeries is lacking.

9.The study's transferability aspect is commendable, with rich descriptions of findings. however, a discussion of the study's limitations and constraints affecting transferability needs consideration.

10.In conclusion section, comments on the implications of such an extensive review and potential policy changes are missing.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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PONE-D-23-41017R1“I became a person again”: Social Inclusion and participation experiences of Ethiopian women post-Obstetric Fistula surgical repair.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Debele,

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.

the manuscript is written on very important topic and is generalizable, but it is too lengthy. kindly concise it by reducing repetition of words and sentences. correct grammatical mistakes   

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jul 15 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,

Sidrah Nausheen, FCPS

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.

[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.

“I became a person again”: Social Inclusion and participation experiences of Ethiopian women post-Obstetric Fistula surgical repair.

PONE-D-23-41017R2

Dear  Tibeb Zena Debele,

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,

Sidrah Nausheen, FCPS

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: