PONE-D-24-11121Pre-exposure prophylaxis implementation during incarceration: perspectives of formerly incarcerated men and womenPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. White,

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.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jul 24 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,

Hamid Sharifi, Professor

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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When you resubmit, please ensure that you provide the correct grant numbers for the awards you received for your study in the ‘Funding Information’ section.

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 If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references.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 If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

Thanks so much for submitting this work to PLOS ONE. Both reviewers have recommended to accept manuscript. Howereve, before final decision, I have a few comments that should be apply.

1- The structure of the paragraphs should be improved. For example, the first two paragraphs of the introduction are only one sentece. Or the second last paragraph of the introduction should be impowered.

2- There is no need to add sutitles into the discussion.

3- Please check and fix the references based on PLOS ONE format.

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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: Partly

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 your time and work in this very important area, and allowing me the opportunity to review your work.

I would advise that the author(s) add the transcript(s) of conversations as appendices to allow further context to the conversation. Despite the quotes being impactful and articulated well throughout, I feel that some of the power or context of the words of individuals may have been lost or missed in the bulk of the text.

This is an incredibly insightful written piece and it is very interesting to hear the views of those who are, or could be, directly affected - I appreciate that some of the conversations may have been triggering for individuals. Given the cultural differences outside of the U.S., it would be a great opportunity to build and expand on this piece of work in other countries and gain further insight into the understanding and provision of PrEP.

Reviewer #2: 1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript appears technically sound. The study is based on qualitative research and includes detailed descriptions of the methodology, data collection, and analysis processes. The conclusions drawn by the authors are supported by the data, which are well-documented and aligned with the study's objectives and findings. The discussion section logically connects the results to the broader context of HIV prevention among formerly incarcerated individuals, suggesting that the data adequately support the conclusions made.

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

The manuscript employs qualitative research methods, and while it does not involve traditional statistical analysis, the qualitative data analysis is performed rigorously. Themes were derived from participant responses, and the authors followed a systematic approach to coding and interpreting the data. This method is appropriate given the research question and study design, ensuring the analysis is thorough and valid within the context of qualitative research.

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The manuscript includes a Data Availability Statement indicating that there are ethical restrictions on sharing a de-identified data set because the data contain potentially sensitive information. However, the contact information for the research ethics committee at UNC is provided for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data. This meets the journal's requirements for data availability under conditions where full public sharing is not possible.

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

The manuscript is presented clearly and is written in standard English. The structure is logical, with a well-defined introduction, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. The language is professional and accessible, making the manuscript intelligible to a broad academic audience. The authors effectively communicate their findings and their significance to the field.

Overall, the manuscript is well-prepared and adheres to the standards expected for publication.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Geraint Jones

Reviewer #2: Yes: Ayalew Aklilu Haile

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PONE-D-24-11121R1Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation during incarceration: perspectives of formerly incarcerated men and womenPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. White,

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.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Aug 29 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,

Hamid Sharifi, Professor

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.

Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

Thanks for resubmit the revised work. Before the final decision, please consider and apply these two comments:

1- Using this new released guideline, please revise some words like prisoners or incarcerated people.

2- You need also share a file including the comments and also your responses.

Best Regards

Hamid Sharifi

Professor in Epidemiology

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[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.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation during incarceration: perspectives of formerly incarcerated men and women

PONE-D-24-11121R2

Dear Dr. White,

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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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,

Hamid Sharifi, Professor

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: