PONE-D-24-10909Characterization of acute effects of football competition on hamstring muscles by muscle functional MRI techniquesPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Mechó Meca,

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.

Reviewers found merit in your manuscript but suggested revision. Please read through carefully and make sure your references are appropriately cited. Also consider the suggested change to "injury reduction".

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4267196/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0234401

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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: N/A

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: Very interesting study. The authors show that the semitendinosus is the most activated hamstring muscle during a soccer match and specifically in its middle and distal portion.

Abstract : Syntax errors « ). »

Introduction : a bit too long.

Materials and methods :

- « three portions for each, but in case of short head of biceps just two portions: proximal and distal). An average of 5 slices were discarded due to motion artifacts » : a limit of the study that has to be discussed.

- The MRI primarily represents the last minutes played. Have all the players played 60 minutes straight without stopping? It's not clear.

Results

Ok

Discussion

- « three portions for each, but in case of short head of biceps just two portions: proximal and distal). An average of 5 slices were discarded due to motion artifacts » : a limit of the study that has to be discussed.

- The MRI primarily represents the last minutes played : to be more discussed.

Fig 1 and 2 : images quality has to be improved.

Reviewer #2: The article as written provides the reader with novel information and may be useful in the understanding of hamstring injuries in general and specific to football athletes. I would have liked to see some more explanation and expounding upon the GPS data as it relates to the study and the findings. It felt that this portion of data collection was auxiliary to the study and not well utilized. There were found to be some hard to read sentences/sections of the manuscript as it relates to wording and flow. Please check this as well as typing errors found in the discussion section. Please check your use of references. There may have been some references or potential citation that may have been missed in the introduction section. I feel like the clinical implications as covered could have been more thorough, and the authors could include potential future research ideas or objectives based on their findings. The clinical implications state that the findings support rehab or strengthening of the semitendinosus as a preventative method after a match, however this may be better achieved to perform prior to the next match but not immediately after a match. Also, many believe that injury prevention is not a relative term and the term injury reduction is better suited. Overall, the article was well done, and provides a novel and interesting perspective.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Sylvain Grange, MD, PhD

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Plos-One-Characterization of acute_Review-vSG02042024.docx

Characterization of acute effects of football competition on hamstring muscles by muscle functional MRI techniques

PONE-D-24-10909R1

Dear Dr. Mechó Meca,

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,

Jeremy P Loenneke

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

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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 questions have been answered correctly. The manuscript is intelligible and well written. The english is correct

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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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