Peer Review History

Original SubmissionAugust 18, 2025
Decision Letter - Muammar Qadafi, Editor

-->PONE-D-25-44943-->-->Multi-Scale Resistivity Imaging for Soil Moisture and Structure Characterization in Precision Agriculture-->-->PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Widodo,

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Muammar Qadafi

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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[This research was financially supported by a research grant awarded to Widodo Widodo from DRI (Direktorat Riset dan Inovasi), PPMI FTTM, Institut Teknologi Bandung and RISTEK DIKTI (Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education of the Republic). We sincerely appreciate their support of this research.]

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

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

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: After careful observation of the manuscript, the following points are my specific comments

The introduction needs reorganization to create a logical progression of ideas. Most of the statements are general and not supported by citations.

Provide Subang, Bandung, and Sumedang characteristics in tabular form to differentiate and better understand.

Provide the textural and mineral composition of each area

Statistical analysis details are missing in the material and methods

Please clarify the x and Y axis labels in figures 5, 8, and 11. Is it a depth or length, for example, Bandung site 14.1 m length of the landscape or depth? In figures, it was mentioned as depth, it is supposed to be 0.4 m

What are the rationales in selecting different lengths of measurement in all three locations: Subang area-24.5 m, Sumedang area-24.5m, and Bandung area- 14.1m

Soil profile depth also varies across locations.

The major limitation of the study, conclusion relied only on resistivity measurements, ERT, EMI, which should be validated by the spatial moisture distribution, vertical, and horizontal measurements.

No exhaustive and up-to-date Literature collection in support of the present research; many of the references are older than 20 years.

Overall, the research topic may have merit, but the manuscript suffers in in-depth statistical analysis and comparison between selected areas. significant revision and professional editing are needed before it can be considered for publication.

Reviewer #2: It is a good work I am inclined to accept it after minor revision. Kindly refine the abstarct and write problem satatement clearly in abstarct. Kindly add some latesest reference in introduction.in section 2.2 kindly explain mergence of secondary emerging field in more deatil. kindly explain Fig.6 in more detail.kindly explain Fig. 9 in more detail.

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Reviewer #1: Yes:  M.R. Umesh

Reviewer #2: No

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Revision 1

Dear Editor and Reviewers,

We would like to sincerely thank the Academic Editor and the reviewers for their careful evaluation of our manuscript and for providing constructive comments that have significantly improved the quality of this work. We have carefully revised the manuscript according to all suggestions and comments provided during the review process.

In response to the reviewers’ comments, several substantial improvements have been made to the manuscript. First, the Introduction section has been reorganized and expanded to provide a clearer scientific background, a stronger literature review, and a more explicit research gap regarding soil moisture monitoring in tropical agricultural environments. Several recent references have been incorporated to strengthen the context of the study.

Second, additional information describing the characteristics of the three study areas (Subang, Bandung, and Sumedang) has been included. A new comparative table has been added to the manuscript to summarize key environmental and soil characteristics of each location, which improves the clarity of the comparison between the different agricultural landscapes.

Third, to address the reviewer’s concern regarding statistical rigor, a new subsection describing the statistical analysis of resistivity variability has been added to the Materials and Methods section. Descriptive statistical parameters such as mean resistivity, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation are now used to quantify spatial variability among the study sites.

Fourth, several figure captions and axis descriptions have been clarified to avoid ambiguity in the interpretation of resistivity sections. The horizontal and vertical axes in all resistivity profiles now clearly indicate profile distance and depth, respectively.

Fifth, additional discussion has been added to clarify the rationale for different measurement lengths among the study sites. These variations are related to field accessibility and terrain conditions while maintaining comparable investigation depths.

Furthermore, the Discussion section has been substantially expanded to include validation of geophysical interpretations using soil profile observations and field data. A dedicated subsection discussing the limitations of resistivity-based soil moisture interpretation has also been included.

In addition, the manuscript has been revised to comply with all journal requirements, including clarification of funding information, competing interests statement, data availability statement, and author information. Figures containing map elements have been reviewed and revised to ensure compliance with open-access licensing requirements.

We believe that these revisions have significantly improved the clarity, scientific rigor, and overall quality of the manuscript. We hope that the revised manuscript now meets the publication criteria of PLOS ONE.

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort invested by the editor and reviewers in evaluating our manuscript and providing valuable feedback.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Widodo Widodo

(on behalf of all co-authors)

Institut Teknologi Bandung

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: TABLE Author_Response.docx
Decision Letter - Muammar Qadafi, Editor

Multi-Scale Resistivity Imaging for Soil Moisture and Structure Characterization in Precision Agriculture

PONE-D-25-44943R1

Dear Dr. Widodo,

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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Kind regards,

Muammar Qadafi

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Muammar Qadafi, Editor

PONE-D-25-44943R1

PLOS One

Dear Dr. Widodo,

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on behalf of

Dr. Muammar Qadafi

Academic Editor

PLOS One

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