Dear Dr. Ghaffarifar,

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 25 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.

• 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'.
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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Santhi Silambanan, MD, DNB

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 If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references.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 If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.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:

I request the authors to respond to one query raised by reviewer 1.

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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: Yes

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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: Yes

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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: The authors have provided a comprehensive review of the types of oral examinations being carried out in a number of different situations and their perceived issues relating to reliability etc. They have reviewed a considerable amount of relevant data and provided 'Structured Approaches to Improving Outcomes in oral examinations' with an excellent set of 'Best evidence-based' choices for performing such oral examinations, which can facilitate further discussions in institutions where this type of examination is routinely used.

Helpful figures and supplementary materials have been included.

The review is well written with suitable explanations of acronyms and sources. All credit to the authors as it would seem that English is a second language.

I do have one very minor question - the authors mention investigating unpublished reports. What were these and how did they access them if they were not published?

Reviewer #2: The review article on Oral Examination in Medical and Paramedical Education is well written and provides a comprehensive overview of most of the important aspects observed in oral examinations. The manuscript is organized logically, and the discussion is clear and easy to follow.

As a review article, it successfully covers the major strengths, challenges, and practical considerations associated with oral assessment.

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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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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.

Structured Approaches to Improving Outcomes of Oral Exam in Medical and Paramedical Education: A Systematic Review and Evidence-Based Framework

PONE-D-26-23522R1

Dear Dr. Ghaffarifar,

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,

Santhi Silambanan, MD, DNB

Academic Editor

PLOS One