PONE-D-24-28202A Qualitative Study about Chinese Teacher’s Perceptions and Practice of MeritocracyPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Sun,

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 Dec 02 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,

Imran Saeed, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

I have carefully reviewed the reviewers' comments. Based on their feedback, I have decided that your manuscript requires major revisions. I trust the authors will address these points comprehensively. Additionally, please highlight all changes made and provide a detailed, point-by-point response to each reviewer’s comments.

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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: 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: No

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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: No

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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 topic, "A Qualitative Study about Chinese Teachers' Perceptions and Practices of Meritocracy," is interesting. I thoroughly read the manuscript and found some areas that need improvement to enhance the quality of the paper. Some of my suggestions are as follows:

1. The authors need to focus on improving the abstract. As the first part of the manuscript, it is crucial for captu1.ring the reader's attention. In my opinion, the abstract is too brief. Please consider making it more engaging and comprehensive.

2. The concept of meritocracy is not adequately explained. Since it is the central theme of the manuscript, the authors must provide a more detailed and thorough explanation of this concept.

3. Why are meritocracy and education important? What are the reasons behind this? The authors should focus on these questions and support their discussion with relevant and recent literature, as many studies have explored meritocracy.

4. Why focus only on teachers' perceptions and practices regarding meritocracy? The rationale behind this focus must be clarified, using the latest and relevant references.

5. The concept of meritocracy in the Chinese context must be clearly articulated and supported with appropriate references.

6. The methods section is insufficient and requires a more detailed explanation.

7. I agree with the analysis section; it is well-written and explained.

8. The discussion is good, but the limitations of the study and future directions are missing. These should be included.

Reviewer #2: Dear Editor,

Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to review this manuscript. I have read the complete manuscript and found it to be of good quality. However, there is always room for improvement. Below are some changes that need to be incorporated before publication:

1.The abstract is very brief and not well-written. It should be expanded and improved for clarity.

2. The introduction is overall well-written and logically coherent. However, it lacks the latest references, which could help strengthen the research gap.

3. In the literature review, the authors developed strong arguments on "Meritocracy and Education," "Teachers’ Perceptions of and Practices Regarding Meritocracy," and "Meritocracy in the Chinese Context." However, there are no recent references that support the literature with relevant theories.

4. The methods section should be clearer to the reader. On what basis were these school teachers from Shenzhen City selected? This section must be more understandable.

5. The results section is well-written and well-explained by the authors. The proposed questions are clearly addressed and interpreted effectively.

6.Limitations and future directions are missing and should be included.

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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: Yes:  Wang Jiatong

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Comments.docx

PONE-D-24-28202R1A Qualitative Study of Chinese Teacher’s Perceptions and Practices of Meritocracy

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Sun,

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.

Below, I have outlined the revisions/improvements needed:

1. Methodology:
   
   • Include a table summarizing the demographic characteristics of teachers in each school to clarify differences.
   • Clearly state whether patterns of responses were similar or varied across schools.
   • Provide the full interview questions in the text or appendix (both in Mandarin and English).
   • Clarify if interviews were conducted separately or together and describe how consistency was ensured across interviewers.
   • Elaborate on the coding process—who conducted independent coding and how consensus was reached.
2. Conceptual Framework, Discussion, and Conclusion:
   
   • Consider adding a conceptual diagram to illustrate how privilege (e.g., home resources, social networks) and merit (e.g., effort, talent) contribute to student achievement.
   • Clarify the causal relationship between student background advantages and effort in determining success.
   • Highlight how teachers emphasize effort as the key factor influencing student outcomes, even though structural constraints exist.
   • Expand the discussion on structural constraints and their impact on teachers’ agency.
   • Provide a more in-depth exploration of the implications for policy and practice.
3. Language & Clarity:
   
   • Clarify whether "150 RMB" refers to daily per capita income.
   • Provide more context for the term ren qing shi gu to ensure non-Chinese readers understand its full meaning.
   • Justify or cite the claim that “students attribute academic success to three parts talent and seven parts effort.”

By addressing these comments, you can improve the comprehensiveness, relevance, and clarity of your research article.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Mar 24 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,

Mc Rollyn Daquiado Vallespin

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.

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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

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

Reviewer #5: 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

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: N/A

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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

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: No

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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

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: 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 draft has been improved, and all my suggestions have been incorporated. From my side, it is now acceptable.

Reviewer #2: I have thoroughly reviewed the revise draft, and it has been improved. It is now acceptable to me. good luck.

Reviewer #3: Improve your technical writing but its ok after reviewed the manuscript from the first, second reviwers.

Reviewer #4: Discussion and conclusions

1. Lack of depth in the discussion of structural constraints and their impact on teachers' agency

2. Limited exploration of the implications for policy and practice

Reviewer #5: Please see the attached file.

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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: No

Reviewer #3: Yes:  Dr. IDRIS ADAMU CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION AMINU SALEH COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AZARE. BAUCHI STATE NIGERIA

Reviewer #4: No

Reviewer #5: Yes:  Nathaniel D. Porter

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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.

Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Review Comments - PONE-D-24-28202R1.docx

A Qualitative Study of Chinese Teacher’s Perceptions and Practices of Meritocracy

PONE-D-24-28202R2

Dear Dr. SUN,

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,

Mc Rollyn Daquiado Vallespin

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: