PONE-D-24-16334Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG seroprevalence in the general population in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 2000–2023PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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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?

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: Thank you for selecting me to review this valuable article. First of all, I would like to thank the authors for the excellent design, strong and clear writing, and the new analyses presented in this article. I have only a few minor comments:

1- The scientific name should be italicized both in the main text and in the references.

2- In the Introduction section, the role of consuming animal products such as poultry, dairy, and eggs should be better explained.

3- The Limitations section should have a separate subheading.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript " Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG seroprevalence in the general population in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 2000–2023" presented the anti-T. gondii IgG seroprevalence within the general population in Iran, a large country in the Middle East. These article kinds are significant for increasing the sensitivity of the medical community and health policymakers especially in developing countries.

The article structure is acceptable, but the authors should answer the questions and make changes based on the comments.

Abstract

- The abstract should not be presented in a structured format

- " Chronic toxoplasmosis is associated with several neuropsychiatric and other harmful effects in infected people, emphasizing the need to assess its burden across various world regions.” → It is incorrect to mention the facts in the proof and hypothesis stage as absolutely proven.

Keywords

- Keywords must be in MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) term.

- Keywords must start with a capital letter

- Keywords must be given in alphabetical order.

Introduction

- Using appropriate and detailed references in all parts of the manuscript. In a review article, referring to other review articles must be done with reason and logic, otherwise, it is unacceptable.

- References 2 to 5 should be removed, because they are unrelated to text and will lead to self-citation, which is against publication ethics.

- “Recent studies have proposed links between chronic toxoplasmosis infection and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia [10], depression [9], bipolar disorder [10], and epilepsy [11], underscoring the importance of reliable diagnosis of chronic toxoplasmosis within the general population.“ → Summarize and use original articles for reference.

- “The exposition of T. gondii in the Iranian population has been mostly approached by the detection of anti-Toxoplasma IgG by serological methods like enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and indirect immunofluorescence antibody test (IFA)” → Applied methods in Iran have not been fully addressed

- “While several meta- analysis studies focused on T. gondii occurrence in immunocompromised individuals such as cancer patients [6, 13-15]” → There is no need to mention other meta-analyses and different study groups. Be omitted.

- "IGP" In the last sentence of the introduction → Be corrected

Methods

- “The search terms used encompassed "Toxoplasma gondii", "T. gondii", "toxoplasmosis", "Iran", "Islamic Republic of Iran", "seroprevalence", and "general population".” → It is necessary to mention the strategic syntax search

- “general population” is not MeSH term

- A number of keywords are missed: ‘Toxoplasma”, “seropositivity” and “prevalence”

Results

- Considering in the analysis table, the results of the cities of Mazandaran, Khuzestan, Qom, Kurdistan, Gilan, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Lorestan, Yazd, Fars, Hormozgan, Semnan, Kerman, and Sistan and Baluchistan have more different results compared to Kalantari et al. that recently published study and you just mention that in the introduction. Are the results of this study not included in the above analysis? What argument would you make on this?

Discussion

- Reference 22 is not relevant and needs to be removed

- Reference 33 is not relevant and needs to be removed

- “Also, in this study, the highest seroprevalence was observed among pregnant women. Considering that the risk of contracting this parasite during pregnancy is clinically important [45], we suggest that preventive measures to prevent pregnant women from becoming infected with T. gondii should be strictly applied. However, it should be noted that infection before pregnancy causes resistance to infection and transmission to the fetus. As a result, IgM identification is important in pregnant women [45].” → Use original articles for reference, also, considering the main topic of the article, it is not relevant to deal with pregnant women.

First, the "Disclosures" section should be mentioned, and then "Compliance with Ethics Guidelines" should be mentioned.

References

- The second reference must be correctly given. This book is not published in 2020.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

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Submitted filename: Reviewer comments.docx

Anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG seroprevalence in the general population in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 2000–2023

PONE-D-24-16334R1

Dear Dr. pazoki,

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,

Masoud Foroutan, Ph.D; Assistant Professor

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

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

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: 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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: 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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: 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 answered all of my questions and the paper has been greatly improved. Therefore, it can be accepted for publication.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

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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

Reviewer #2: No

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