-->PONE-D-25-64859-->-->Health Behaviors and Lifestyle Challenges among School Children: A Qualitative Research from Rajasthan, India-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Sangwan,

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Praveen Suthar, PhD (Public Health), MPH

Academic Editor

PLOS One

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Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

Dear Author,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript on lifestyle behaviors and barriers among schoolchildren in Rajasthan. The study addresses an important and timely public health issue and demonstrates strong potential, particularly with its qualitative approach and engagement of multiple stakeholders.

However, we kindly request you to revise the manuscript to further strengthen its clarity and rigor as follows:

1. Clarify Objectives: Rewrite the Introduction to present the study objectives more clearly and precisely.

2. Expand Methodology: In the Methods section, describe how participants were selected, explain why you chose FGDs versus IDIs for each stakeholder group, and detail how (and when) you determined that data saturation was reached.

3. Enrich Results: Add relevant verbatim quotes from participants to support your findings. Explicitly discuss any notable differences or similarities between rural and urban school settings.

4. Sharpen Recommendations: Revise the Discussion or Conclusion to make policy recommendations more concrete and feasible. Suggest specific actions or interventions based on your findings.

Address Minor Issues: Review the manuscript for language and style, standardize the citation format, and include a statement about ethics approval (with approval number and institution).

Regards

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

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

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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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 manuscript explores an important issue of lifestyle behaviors and barriers among schoolchildren in Rajasthan, using qualitative methods with multiple stakeholders. It is timely and relevant, but the objectives need clearer articulation, and methodological details—such as participant selection, rationale for FGDs versus IDIs, and data saturation—should be expanded. Results would be stronger if illustrated with participant quotes and more nuanced rural–urban comparisons. Policy recommendations are valuable but should be more specific and actionable. Minor issues include language clarity, citation consistency, and inclusion of ethics approval details. Overall, the study has strong potential but requires revisions to improve methodological rigor, enrich findings, and sharpen recommendations.

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Reviewer #1: No

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Health Behaviours and Lifestyle Challenges among School Children: A Qualitative Research from Rajasthan, India

PONE-D-25-64859R1

Dear Dr. Sangwan,

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,

Praveen Suthar, PhD (Public Health), MPH

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: