-->PONE-D-26-01430-->-->Exploring the Relationship Between Supervisory Support, Self-Efficacy, and Satisfaction Among Nursing Students in Saudi Arabia-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Alodhailah,

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 address reviewers’ comments. Please submit your revised manuscript by Apr 12 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:-->

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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.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Majed Sulaiman Alamri, PhD

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: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: No

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: Yes

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 examines the relationship between supervisory support, professional self-efficacy, and satisfaction among undergraduate nursing students in Saudi Arabia. The topic is relevant, timely, and aligned with ongoing healthcare transformation efforts in the country. The study is clearly structured, theoretically grounded in social cognitive theory, and uses established instruments with good internal consistency.

However, several methodological and reporting issues require clarification before the manuscript is suitable for publication.

Abstract

- The abstract could be slightly shortened for conciseness while maintaining clarity.

Methods

- The Supervisory Support Scale and Professional Self-Efficacy Scale were adapted for the Saudi context. However:

- The process of cultural adaptation is not described in sufficient detail.

- It is unclear whether translation/back-translation was conducted.

- Construct validity (e.g., factor analysis) is not reported.

Analysis and Results

- The authors suggest partial mediation of professional self-efficacy in the relationship between supervisory support and satisfaction based on attenuation of regression coefficients. However:

- No formal mediation analysis (e.g., bootstrapped indirect effects using PROCESS or SEM) was conducted.

- The term “mediation” may be overstated given the cross-sectional design.

- Response rate is not reported. I would suggest report response rate.

- It is unclear how many students declined participation. I would suggest clarifying recruitment procedures and potential non-response bias.

- Assumptions for regression (normality, multicollinearity, homoscedasticity) are not reported.

- Effect sizes should be reported more consistently.

- Consider reporting confidence intervals alongside β coefficients in regression tables.

Discussion

- The Discussion section is somewhat lengthy and could be streamlined to reduce repetition, particularly regarding social cognitive theory.

References and editing

- There are some typographical issues:

- Repetition: “effectiveness effectiveness”

- Minor punctuation inconsistencies with semicolons

- Occasional spacing issues around citations. I would suggest checking all.

- Some references appear duplicated in citation numbering (e.g., [23] used multiple times in close proximity). Please verify reference accuracy and numbering.

Good luck!

Reviewer #2: Dear Authors,

Thank you for the opportunity to review this manuscript addressing a relevant and timely topic. The study demonstrates several notable strengths, including a clearly articulated research aim, an adequate sample size, the use of a stratified sampling approach, and transparent reporting of the regression analyses.

Although the stud is relevant and interesting, The authors used three scales, however, the scales were not translated into Arabic or no description of the translation process. Did you conduct a pilot study to assess if the tool fitting the Saudi Context. Were these scales used in another context?

Were you involved in teaching students? Please clarify who was responsible for data collection and what was the response rate?

You used the professional self-efficacy scale and mentioned that “Short form adapted from existing instruments”. However, original source unclear, item development process unclear, no content validation.

**********

-->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.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

**********

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

<div>PONE-D-26-01430R1-->-->Exploring the Relationship Between Supervisory Support, Self-Efficacy, and Satisfaction Among Nursing Students in Saudi Arabia-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Alodhailah,

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 address reviewer’s comments. Please submit your revised manuscript by Apr 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.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Majed Sulaiman Alamri, 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.

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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: (No Response)

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: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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: Yes

**********

-->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: Thank you to the authors for the thorough revision. The manuscript has been substantially improved and most methodological concerns have been carefully addressed.

I have only some suggestions:

1. A minor typographical issue remains in the introduction (“effectiveness effectiveness”), which should be corrected.

2. The power analysis section refers to Cohen’s d (0.3). Since the study uses regression models, it may be more appropriate to report effect size in terms of f².

3. Given the cross-sectional design, I suggest slightly softening the interpretation of mediation to emphasize statistical mediation rather than causal inference.

Overall, the manuscript is now much stronger and makes a valuable contribution to understanding clinical supervision and student outcomes in nursing education.

Reviewer #2: Dear Authors,

Thank you for addressing all of my comments in the revised manuscript. I do not have any further comments and wish you all the best with the publication of your work.

**********

-->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.

-->

-->PONE-D-26-01430R2-->-->Exploring the Relationship Between Supervisory Support, Self-Efficacy, and Satisfaction Among Nursing Students in Saudi Arabia-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Alodhailah,-->-->

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 address reviewer’s comments.-->-->

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 24 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,

Majed Sulaiman Alamri, 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.

[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

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #5: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #6: 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: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: Partly

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: I Don't Know

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: No

**********

-->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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: Yes

**********

-->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

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

Reviewer #5: Yes

Reviewer #6: No

**********

-->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: Thank you for addressing the comments. The authors have addressed the remaining comments carefully and thoughtfully. Good Luck!

Reviewer #2: Dear Authors,

Thank you for revising the manuscript and enhancing its overall quality. I have no further comments at this stage and wish you all the best with your publication.

Reviewer #3: I congratulate the authors on their meticulous and detailed work.

I suggest that the authors specify the research design as "cross-sectional correlational".

Reviewer #4: The authors have adequately addressed all of the concerns raised in the previous round of review. The revised manuscript shows clear and appropriate revisions, with responses that are thorough and well‑justified. The clarifications provided in the methods and analyses have improved the overall rigour and transparency of the study, and the revisions have strengthened the alignment between the results and conclusions. Overall, I am satisfied that reviewers' comments have been fully addressed, and I believe the manuscript is now suitable for publication.

Reviewer #5: The manuscript has undergone two previous rounds of revision, and the authors have adequately addressed the comments raised by the reviewers. In its current form, the presentation of the article is suitable for publication.

Furthermore, the context of nursing education in the Gulf region presents unique characteristics. Studies like this provide valuable insights to the research community by highlighting the diverse approaches adopted in nursing higher education within this region.

Reviewer #6: (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

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: Yes: Dr Adeniyi Olanrewaju Adeleye

Reviewer #5: No

Reviewer #6: 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.

Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Upload Reviewer Attachment.pdf

<div>PONE-D-26-01430R3-->-->Exploring the Relationship Between Supervisory Support, Self-Efficacy, and Satisfaction Among Nursing Students in Saudi Arabia-->-->PLOS One-->--> -->-->Dear Dr. Alodhailah,-->--> -->-->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 Jul 09 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,

Majed Sulaiman Alamri, 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.

[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 #4: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

**********

-->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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #6: Partly

**********

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

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #4: I Don't Know

Reviewer #6: No

**********

-->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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #6: Yes

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-->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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #6: No

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-->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: Thank you for the revised manuscript. The authors have addressed the majority of the previous comments thoroughly, and the manuscript has improved substantially in methodological clarity, theoretical integration, statistical reporting, and overall presentation.

Reviewer #4: Thank you for providing further revision on this paper. Note that I have not reviewed any statistical analysis associated with your study.

Reviewer #6: The authors are commended for their efforts in revising the manuscript and addressing the previous comments. However, several issues remain that require further major revision to improve clarity, methodological rigor, statistical reporting, and academic writing quality. The following comments are provided to further strengthen the manuscript. Most importantly, the Discussion section requires substantial revision and a comprehensive rewrite, with a stronger emphasis on detailed comparison with relevant previous studies.

The manuscript contains several grammatical and linguistic errors. The authors are kindly requested to thoroughly revise the entire manuscript to improve academic language clarity, coherence, and scientific writing quality.

Abstract

It is not necessary to include the names of the hospitals in the abstract. Please remove them from the abstract.

The response rate calculation requires revision. It should be clearly based on the appropriate sampling frame rather than the total population. Please recheck the calculation and ensure consistency between the sample size determination and the reported response rate.

Background

Please add a supporting citation for the following statement: "Effective supervision creates environments where students develop critical thinking, clinical decision-making, and hands-on nursing skills.”

Provide appropriate citations for the following statements: "Despite broad consensus on the value of supervision, significant challenges persist. Clinical instructors often face high workloads and variable caseloads that limit individualized student contact. Supervision quality varies considerably across sites owing to differences in instructor experience, institutional resources, and organizational culture.”

The authors need to clarify the following statement by specifying the mechanisms and adding appropriate citations: "In the clinical education context, these mechanisms are operationalized through supervisor feedback (verbal persuasion), direct observation of skilled practitioners (vicarious learning), and graduated practice under supportive conditions (mastery experience).”

Methods

The sample size is reported as 103 based on calculation and later increased to 145 participants. However, the reported response rate of 58% requires clarification and revision. Please ensure consistency between the sample size calculation, population size, and final included participants.

The total population size (250 students) must be properly referenced.

The authors have calculated the sample size based on calculation, so I suggest you remove the attached paragraph from the methods section "Response rate and non-response bias. Of approximately 250 students enrolled in clinical placements at the three hospitals during the study period, 145 returned valid questionnaires (response rate = 58%). To assess potential non-response bias, available demographic characteristics (age group, gender, year of study) of respondents and non-respondents were compared using institutional enrolment records. No statistically significant differences were found (χ² age = 1.23, p = 0.267; χ² gender = 0.91, p = 0.341; χ² year = 1.45, p = 0.485), suggesting the final sample was reasonably representative of the broader population".

The following statement should be revised for clarity and accuracy: "Of approximately 250 students enrolled in clinical placements at the three hospitals during the study period, 145 returned valid questionnaires (response rate = 58%).”

Results

Please move the provided paragraph related to regression analysis to the appropriate section and remove “ See Methods and and Appendix B.”

The authors should write the accurate response rate in the first sentence in the results section.

The authors must write the number of several tables at the end of the paragraphs, not in the first sentence, such as "Table 1 presents the sociodemographic characteristics of the sample (n = 145).

In Table 9, ANOVA p-values are reported for variables where ANOVA is not appropriate for several variables such as gender. Please reanalyze the data using appropriate statistical tests.

Discussion

This section requires substantial revision, as its current quality is insufficient for publication standards. Note: The discussion should be rewritten in a more coherent, critical, and evidence-based academic style.

Avoid overemphasis on numerical values within the discussion section such as "The significant variation in satisfaction across the three hospitals (ANOVA: F = 4.312, p = 0.016; η² = 0.058) warrants particular attention".

Several subsections lack adequate comparison with existing literature. Please strengthen the discussion by:

Comparing findings with relevant previous studies;

Providing scientific justification for key results;

Strengthening theoretical and empirical interpretation.

Please summarize the implications of the study without citations.

Conclusion

The conclusion should first briefly describe the levels of supervisory support, professional self-efficacy, and satisfaction before presenting the associations between these variables.

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-->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 #4: No

Reviewer #6: No

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Exploring the Relationship Between Supervisory Support, Self-Efficacy, and Satisfaction Among Nursing Students in Saudi Arabia

PONE-D-26-01430R4

Dear Dr. Alodhailah,

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,

Majed Sulaiman Alamri, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

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 #4: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #6: All comments have been addressed

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-->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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

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

Reviewer #4: I Don't Know

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

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-->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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

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-->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 #4: Yes

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

**********

-->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 #4: Thank you for addressing all the comments in my previous reviews and the comments from all reviewers. I am now satisfied with the current version of the manuscript.

Reviewer #6: (No Response)

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-->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 #4: No

Reviewer #6: No

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