Dear Dr. König,

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.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Mi-So Shim

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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“The author MK serves as the project lead of the Housing and Digitalisation Competence Center Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Landesfachstelle für Wohn- und Digitalisierungsberatung), a publicly funded initiative. The project is funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Sport of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. No additional financial support from private or commercial entities was received in relation to this work.”

Please state what role the funders took in the study.  If the funders had no role, please state: "The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript."

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6. 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 If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references.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 If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.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. Does the manuscript provide a valid rationale for the proposed study, with clearly identified and justified research questions?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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??>

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: No

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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.

Reviewer #1: The methodological proposal is solid, coherent, and aligned with the main conceptual frameworks and international guidelines for scoping reviews, such as the Arksey and O'Malley model, the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines, and the PRISMA-ScR checklist. The proposed methodology is adequate to meet the stated objectives and has high potential to generate relevant and useful evidence. The objectives are clearly formulated and focus on mapping and synthesizing the available evidence on the topic of interest. The application of the PCC (Population, Concept, Context) framework allows for an appropriate and relevant selection of studies. It is recommended that the protocol explicitly state the expected limitations, such as the possible heterogeneity among the included studies (in terms of design, intervention, and measurement of frailty). In addition to including the search time frame. It would be relevant to incorporate a section addressing the potential use of the findings for the design of home-based interventions and for the formulation of public policies.

Reviewer #2: The Article was presented in a comprehensive, yet concse manner, the aims and objectives well put forward, Above all- a Great scoping review.

Reviewer #3: Thank you for sending this article in its protocol version; here are some comments:

Methods:

Consider the protocol log.

It would be important to detail the search strategy and/or keywords to use.

Additionally, it is important to define which type of test will be used to measure frailty, whether home modifications or accessibility will be evaluated in relation to frailty prevention and management outcomes, and how the frailty variable will be grouped or categorised for analysis.

It is important to include PRISMA-P as supplementary material because, although it was designed for systematic reviews, it is a protocol checklist that could be used for scoping reviews.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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The Relationship Between Home Modifications and Frailty Among Older Adults: A Scoping Review Protocol

PONE-D-25-36496R1

Dear Dr. König,

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,

Mi-So Shim

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE