PONE-D-24-14998Unveiling Shadows: Investigating women’s experience of intimate partner violence in Ghana through the lens of the 2022 Demographic and Health SurveyPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Okyere,

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Kind regards,

Tijani Idris Ahmad Oseni, FMCFM

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Kindly address the issues raised by the reviewers and resubmit the manuscript for further evaluation.

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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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: No

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: The study title was highly suggestive of a different form of study. The study design could not be applied to meet the study aims and answer the question of the research. The methods of the study were not described. The conclusions are not reflective of the study.

Reviewer #2: The research is about a significant public health issue and has identified predictors of IPV which could be addressed by the policy makers, therefore, recommended for publication.

The data used, analysis, result presentations, discussion and the conclusion are aligned. However, the author should clarify and look into the following observations:

1. Table 1, under the "demographic" (proportion of at least one form of IPV), the p value of 190 seems to be invalid.

2. Table 1, under "age group", the summation is 3,791 which is greater than "N" (3,741)

3. Table 1, under "region of residence" the summation is 3,740 which is lesser than "N" (3,741)

4. Table 1, the entire last row (Total) is unnecessary and seems to be confusing.

5. Table 2, the confidence interval (CI) should be presented as an "interval" (lower limit-upper limit), NOT with a "comma"

6. Table 2, it will be good if the p values are also included in the table, to show the EXACT values especially the significant ones. There may be need for more explanation than asterisks at the footnote.

7. The manuscript has been written in standard English, with very few typographical errors;

a) Under "binary logistic regression analysis", Paragraph 3, line 6, ".......beating WERE MORE had a higher likelihood..."

b) Under Table 2, "MARITA Status"

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Dr Tawakalit Olubukola SALAM

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-14998 (1).pdf

Women’s experiences of intimate partner violence in Ghana: Update from the 2022 Demographic and Health Survey

PONE-D-24-14998R1

Dear Dr. Okyere,

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,

Tijani Idris Ahmad Oseni, FMCFM

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

**********

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

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: Yes

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: Authors have reviewed the article and corrections are acceptable for publication as it now is. The title is highly reflective of the content and the methods addresses the research question.

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: Yes: Dr Tawakalit Olubukola Salam

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