PONE-D-24-27461Effect of Physiotherapy Interventions on Pain Management, Functional Recovery and Quality of Life in Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Systematic Review ProtocolPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Vikhe,

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Kind regards,

Mehrnaz Kajbafvala, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses?

The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable?

Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. 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: No

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 and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics.

You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study.

(Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Title

• Instead of “functional recovery”, write “function”.

Abstract

• Edit this sentence “practice and future research, ultimately improving outcomes for individuals with PFPS.”

Introduction:

• Has a meta-analysis or systematic review been conducted in this field? What aspects did they examine, and how does this study offer a relative advantage compared to those reviews?

Method

• In the inclusion criteria based on the PICO principle, the type of interventions, study design, control group, variables studied, language of the studies, year of publication, gray or only published studies should also be specified.

• Include keywords in the search strategy.

• Add Pedro to the databases.

• Given that cohort studies differ from randomized clinical studies, it is recommended that you focus exclusively on randomized clinical studies.

• Why do you intend to include all interventions without restrictions, despite their differing natures, in this systematic study? Wouldn't it be better to focus on interventions of a similar nature to reduce heterogeneity and facilitate a meta-analysis? Will the current study design effectively answer the question of which treatment is most effective?

Grammar and English

• The study contains several grammatical errors that need to be corrected.

Reviewer #2: Dear Authors,

Thank you very much for your interesting article that discusses an important topic. The title of your article " Effect of Physiotherapy Interventions on Pain Management, Functional Recovery and Quality of Life in Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Systematic Review Protocol " is an interesting idea and I enjoyed reading it. However, I have several suggestions for improving your article.

FIRST; Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authorsaffiliations.pdf

Abstract

• Simplify any overly complex sentences, and make sure that the objectives, methods, and anticipated outcomes are clearly outlined.

• Please write keywords based on MeSH terms.

Irntroduction

• Strengthen the rationale by connecting your research question more directly to the existing literature.

• Ensure that each claim is backed by a current and relevant reference.

Methodology

• " Google Scholar " is a search engine, not a database. Please correct it.

• Please write a more specific time frame, for example, from May 2014 to April 2024.

• Consider including a flowchart to depict the study selection process, which is common in systematic reviews.

• Provide a template or a description of the form to be used for data extraction, explaining how it will be pilot-tested before full data extraction.

• While the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool is appropriate, specify how you will handle studies with different designs (e.g., observational studies) that may not fit neatly into this tool. Also, consider discussing how you will address publication bias, such as through a funnel plot or another statistical method.

Discussion

• Add a section on the expected contribution of your systematic review to the field and its potential to guide future research or clinical practice.

• Discuss possible challenges you anticipate during the review process, such as the heterogeneity of included studies.

References

• I recommend correcting all references according to journal instructions.

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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: Arsalan Ghorbanpour

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Effect of Physiotherapy Interventions on Pain Management, Function and Quality of Life in Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Systematic Review Protocol

PONE-D-24-27461R1

Dear Dr. Chaitali S. Vikhe,

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,

Mehrnaz Kajbafvala, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

The research question outlined is expected to address a valid academic problem or topic and contribute to the base of knowledge in the field.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

2. Is the protocol technically sound and planned in a manner that will lead to a meaningful outcome and allow testing the stated hypotheses?

The manuscript should describe the methods in sufficient detail to prevent undisclosed flexibility in the experimental procedure or analysis pipeline, including sufficient outcome-neutral conditions (e.g. necessary controls, absence of floor or ceiling effects) to test the proposed hypotheses and a statistical power analysis where applicable. As there may be aspects of the methodology and analysis which can only be refined once the work is undertaken, authors should outline potential assumptions and explicitly describe what aspects of the proposed analyses, if any, are exploratory.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Is the methodology feasible and described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be replicable?

Descriptions of methods and materials in the protocol should be reported in sufficient detail for another researcher to reproduce all experiments and analyses. The protocol should describe the appropriate controls, sample size calculations, and replication needed to ensure that the data are robust and reproducible.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors described where all data underlying the findings will be made available when the study is complete?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception, at the time of publication. 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

**********

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 and, if applicable, provide comments about issues authors must address before this protocol can be accepted for publication. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about research or publication ethics.

You may also provide optional suggestions and comments to authors that they might find helpful in planning their study.

(Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Congratulations. The comments have been effectively incorporated, and the article's quality has improved, making it suitable for publication under the current conditions.

Reviewer #2: Dear Authors,

I read and reviewed your article again. Thank you for answering all the comments carefully. In my opinion, your answers are complete. The article well written and will be interesting for the readers.

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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: Arsalan Ghorbanpour

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