-->PONE-D-25-48654-->-->A path planning approach for ship collision avoidance integrating BRB reasoning and velocity obstacle algorithm-->-->PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Zheng,

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 26 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.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Yongxiang Zhang, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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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: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->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: Yes

**********

-->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 manuscript presents a novel and technically relevant approach that integrates Belief-Rule-Based (BRB) reasoning with the Velocity Obstacle (VO) algorithm for ship collision avoidance. The research topic is timely and of interest to the maritime and autonomous navigation community. The methodology appears logically designed, and the simulation results demonstrate the potential effectiveness of the proposed approach. However, the overall quality of writing and formatting requires significant improvement before the paper can be considered for publication.

• The title is too long and contains multiple technical expressions. It could be shortened or restructured for clarity and accessibility. The abstract also includes very long and complex sentences, which make it difficult to follow the main message. The authors should consider simplifying sentence structures and using clearer transitions.

• The section headings and numbering are not fully consistent across the manuscript. Please ensure uniform formatting, capitalization, and numbering according to PLOS ONE style guidelines.

• The manuscript contains several grammatical inconsistencies, including tense shifts and awkward phrasing. Technical terms such as velocity obstacle algorithm and VO-based method are used interchangeably; a consistent terminology should be adopted throughout. A careful grammar check and professional English editing are strongly recommended.

• The in-text references to figures and tables are inconsistent. Expressions such as “Figure 3 shows…” and “As shown in Figure 3…” should follow a single formal pattern. Each figure and table should also be clearly explained within the text to guide the reader.

• Some transitions between sections, particularly between the Literature Review and Proposed Approach, are abrupt. Adding short bridging or summary sentences would greatly improve the logical flow and coherence of the paper.

• The reference list shows inconsistencies in punctuation, capitalization, and DOI presentation. The authors should carefully check reference formatting and align it with PLOS ONE reference requirements.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript entitled “A path planning approach for ship collision avoidance integrating BRB reasoning and velocity obstacle algorithm” presents a novel approach that integrates Belief-Rule-Based (BRB) reasoning with the Velocity Obstacle (VO) algorithm to address multi-ship collision avoidance scenarios. The topic is timely and relevant, and the proposed method has potential to contribute to the advancement of intelligent maritime navigation. However, several issues need to be addressed before the manuscript can be considered for publication.

1. Original: "Zhai et al. [13] … Yu et al. [14] introduced a dynamic path planning method …"

Comment: The review is largely descriptive and lists existing studies without critical evaluation. Please strengthen the discussion by pointing out their limitations (e.g., limited real-time performance, lack of interpretability, insufficient handling of vessel clusters), thereby sharpening the motivation for the present study.

2. Original: "The loss function for the VO algorithm is defined as … minimizing the loss function ."

Comment: The weight parameters in the loss function are introduced without justification. A sensitivity analysis or reference to prior studies is necessary to demonstrate that the chosen values are reasonable and robust.

3. Original: "In coastal waters, one of the key challenges is the dense congregation of fishing vessels … inadequate."

Comment: This could be condensed. At the same time, consider adding concrete statistics (e.g., vessel density, fishing fleet size) to strengthen the motivation.

4. Original: "Metric x4: Average Speed, defined as follows …"

Comment: The choice of average speed as a clustering metric requires further justification. Please elaborate on its physical relevance and limitations in dynamic environments.

5. The method is tested on limited AIS data from 2019 in a regional case. It is not clear how the algorithm scales to high-density international traffic (hundreds of ships). Please at least discuss computational complexity.

6. The current future work statement (L785–L791) is vague. More concrete directions should be suggested, such as integration with reinforcement learning, testing with real-time ship simulators, or hybridization with predictive models.

7. Sentences are sometimes too long and contain multiple clauses (e.g., L25–L31 in the introduction). Shorter and more precise sentences would improve readability. A language polish is recommended.

**********

-->6. 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

**********

[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.]

To ensure your figures meet our technical requirements, please review our figure guidelines: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/figures

You may also use PLOS’s free figure tool, NAAS, to help you prepare publication quality figures: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/figures#loc-tools-for-figure-preparation.

NAAS will assess whether your figures meet our technical requirements by comparing each figure against our figure specifications.

-->PONE-D-25-48654R1-->-->A path planning approach for ship collision avoidance integrating BRB reasoning and velocity obstacle algorithm-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Zheng,

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.

The readability of this paper needs to be further improved.-->-->

Please submit your revised manuscript by May 30 2026 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 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.

As the corresponding author, your ORCID iD is verified in the submission system and will appear in the published article. PLOS supports the use of ORCID, and we encourage all coauthors to register for an ORCID iD and use it as well. Please encourage your coauthors to verify their ORCID iD within the submission system before final acceptance, as unverified ORCID iDs will not appear in the published article. Only   the individual author can complete the verification step; PLOS staff cannot   verify ORCID iDs on behalf of authors.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Jiapeng Liu, Ph.D.

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:

The readability of this paper needs to be further improved, with specific comments as follows.

1. The first-level and second-level headings of the paper need to be reorganized. The current structure results in very poor readability, which reduces the overall quality of the paper.

2. The analysis of the research status is too superficial. Please supplement the research achievements of the past three years and conduct relevant analyses.

3. The references are too outdated.

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

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

**********

-->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: No

**********

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

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

-->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: No

**********

-->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. 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: No further comments. All the comments have been addressed.No further comments. All the comments have been addressed.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

**********

-->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

**********

[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.]

To ensure your figures meet our technical requirements, please review our figure guidelines: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/figures

You may also use PLOS’s free figure tool, NAAS, to help you prepare publication quality figures: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/figures#loc-tools-for-figure-preparation.

NAAS will assess whether your figures meet our technical requirements by comparing each figure against our figure specifications.

-->

A path planning approach for ship collision avoidance integrating BRB reasoning and velocity obstacle algorithm

PONE-D-25-48654R2

Dear Dr. Zheng,

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,

Jiapeng Liu, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: