PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Iwańska,

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,

Shahnawaz Anwer, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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The work was supported by the NCBiR No. DOB-BIO6/05/54/

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The work was supported by the NCBiR No. DOB-BIO6/05/54/

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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?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: 1-The age distribution of participants in the abstract and the text of the article is different and not the same.

2- I suggest that a schematic image or time line of the study protocol and the jumps be included in the text of the article.

3. There is no discussion anywhere about the shoes of the participants. Are the shoes different in athletic and firefighter uniforms?

4. Did anyone drop out of your study? What are the exclusion criteria?

Reviewer #2: The authors have assessed three age groups pf firefighters with no support for age groups or age effect in the introduction. I can’t understand why three age groups of firefighters are included. Please clarify.

Abstract

The structure of abstract does not follow a standard manner. This part must be rewritten.

Background, it is not logical that you completed this part with a question. Better to provide a background regarding to firefighters and their fire protection equipment which leads to overload and then your question.

Results, please provide your findings objectively with p-values.

Introduction

The flow of idea needs to be strengthened. After reading this section for several times, I cant understand what is the novelty and the rationale. This is simple to say that the authors have investigated the effect of two levels of clothes and three age groups on GRF. Please provide support for your outcomes. Moreover, I did not find any support for knee joint stability (H:Q) through the introduction. In this case, I could think the authors have collected any available variable with no rationale. Please rewrite the introduction accordingly.

Methods

Oreder of conditions is not randomized. Please acknowledge it in the studylimitations.

L130-137 It must not be appeared here.

L215 and height

Discussion

L229 is unknown

L303-308 remove

L318-326 please discuss about your results, not review the literature

L335-336 different types of evaluating H/Q are existing. Mostly are isokinetic assessments. Here, based on your values and existing literature, please judge whether the values are low or not.

The reference Mbada et al., 2021 is not in the references list.

The reference Tabor et al., 20221 is not valid for your claim.

L341 please add reference

L352 Vy et al is not in the references list

L360-361 you have not plantar flexion data. Please avoid leaps

L364-367 you can’t use these sentences

L367-373 please don’t use leaps

L373-379 please discuss your results

L419 please remove it and its related phrases

The style of referencing does not match between the text and bibliographic sections. Through the text is author, year, but, the bibliographic is numbered. Also, please ensure that all referenced are included in the bibliographic section.

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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

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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.

Dear Dr. Iwańska,

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.

==============================

ACADEMIC EDITOR:

==============================

Please submit your revised manuscript by Oct 31 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.

• 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 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,

Shahnawaz Anwer, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

If the reviewer comments include a recommendation to cite specific previously published works, please review and evaluate these publications to determine whether they are relevant and should be cited. There is no requirement to cite these works unless the editor has indicated otherwise. 

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:

Reviewer #1:

1- The age groups of the people selected in the main text of the article and the abstract are not the same.

2- What is the criteria for selecting people in the age category?

3- Nothing is said about the gender of the people.

4- Detailed study inclusion and exclusion criteria should be stated.

5- timeline and consort diagram of study must be present

6- Did the participants have musculoskeletal problems before the study? If so, what instrument was used and how was it measured?

Reviewer #2:

Thanks for your amendments。

The manuscript has been improved。 However, there are a few minor concerns listed below。

In the abstract

Move Objective after the background。 Include exact p-values instead of <0.01.

In the introduction

You can use (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2023.06.003) for injury or work related musculoskeletal disorder incidence.

Reference is needed for “The hamstring-to-quadriceps strength ratio (H:Q) is considered an important parameter in this context, as it affects knee joint stability and the ability to absorb vertical forces during landing. However, previous studies have not clearly linked H:Q ratios with GRF changes in firefighters under different external load”. Suggested reference: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knee.2022.05.007

Methods

Move “A limitation of our study was the lack of randomization in the recruitment of study

participants” to the end of the discussion.

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

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions??>

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

The PLOS Data policy

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Thanks for your amendments.

The manuscript has been improved. However, there are a few minor concerns listed below.

In the abstract

Move Objective after the background. Include exact p-values instead of <0.01.

In the introduction

You can use (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2023.06.003) for injury or work related musculoskeletal disorder incidence.

Reference is needed for “The hamstring-to-quadriceps strength ratio (H:Q) is considered an important parameter in this context, as it affects knee joint stability and the ability to absorb vertical forces during landing. However, previous studies have not clearly linked H:Q ratios with GRF changes in firefighters under different external load”. Suggested reference: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knee.2022.05.007

Methods

Move “A limitation of our study was the lack of randomization in the recruitment of study

participants” to the end of the discussion.

**********

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

**********

[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

Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Dear editor.docx

Overload of the lower limbs of firefighters as a result of external conditions

PONE-D-25-13106R2

Dear Dr. Iwańska,

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,

Shahnawaz Anwer, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: