PONE-D-24-07000Family’s perceptions of their members who use Nyaope in Tshwane, South AfricaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nzaumvila,

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 Sep 14 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,

Engelbert A. Nonterah, MD, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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 If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references.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 If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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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?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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

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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 minor issues that need attention are the following:

Failure to avail data has been explained

line 28: it should be nyaope use.....

lines 60 to 64: the authors must also indicate that even the composition differs across samples because not all samples have milk, or paracetamol, etc. there are publications for such information

Nyaope is not a proper noun and should not be written in capital N, except at the beginning of a sentence

lines 130 to 131. it is not clear what linguistic discrimination refers to

line 452: the authors must explain what too late means

Reviewer #2: General comments

I very much enjoyed reading the manuscript. It is an interesting study of public health concern and deserves a scientific merit. The manuscript followed the structure of a journal article. The findings were arrived at through appropriate qualitative processes and analysis. However, the authors stated that “data cannot be shared publicly because of participants' privacy”. If necessary, the authors can still share the data with PLOS ONE in a more anonymized way. The authors can remove personal identifiers from the transcripts and that may help. If by any reason this is not possible, then it should be stated. For instance, participants during consenting may have been informed that the data (whether anonymized or not) would not be shared with any third party. If so, then it should be clearly stated as a reason for not sharing the data.

Below are some few minor comments for consideration.

The manuscript is well-written so I do not have much comments except for a few minor ones as below.

Data analysis

• The statement “The authors used the service of a professional linguist to translate the transcribed scripts from the vernacular languages into English and to transcribe the interviews verbatim” is not clear. Did the authors first have vernacular transcripts and then these transcripts translated into English? Or was the translation done while listening to the vernacular audios and transcribing straight ahead to English?

Ethical considerations

• Since the topic is sensitive, it would be interesting to demonstrate how Informed Consent was obtained. This could be in a brief sentence. For instance, having such an interview on such a topic could provoke emotions. This is a risk that should be explained to the participant when obtaining informed consent.

Results

• Sentence correction in line 203: Take off the first “are” in the sentence “…I would say that people who are using are Nyaope are dissimulators….”.

Strengths and limitations of the study

• This is a sensitive topic since it is about SUD. Couldn’t it have been better to use individual In-Depth Interviews rather than group interviews? Some persons might not bring out certain sensitive information in a group discussion. I think this could be a weakness/limitation of the study that is worth mentioning.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes:  Aaron Kampim

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PONE-D-24-07000R1Family’s perceptions of their members who use nyaope in Tshwane, South AfricaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nzaumvila,

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.

Amend your data availability statement in the submission system and on the manuscript Add the following headings prior to the references:1. Conflict of interest2. Funding information3. Author contribution4. Acknowledgements5. Data availability

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jan 16 2025 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,

Engelbert A. Nonterah, MD, PhD

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.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

[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.

Family’s perceptions of their members who use nyaope in Tshwane, South Africa

PONE-D-24-07000R2

Dear Dr. Doudou Kunda Nzaumvila,

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.

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Kind regards,

Engelbert A. Nonterah, MD, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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