PONE-D-20-29473

Do people have an ethical obligation to share their health information? Comparing narratives of altruism and health information sharing in a nationally representative sample

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Raj,

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.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Madhavi Bhargava, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments:

One reviewer has accepted the manuscript with few reservations about the depth and possible conclusions. You may consider including a section on limitations, implications and recommendations. Another reviewer has suggested minor edits. 

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2. Please include additional information regarding the survey or questionnaire used in the study and ensure that you have provided sufficient details that others could replicate the analyses. For instance, if you developed a questionnaire as part of this study and it is not under a copyright more restrictive than CC-BY, please include a copy, in both the original language and English, as Supporting Information.

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In your revised cover letter, please address the following prompts:

a) If there are ethical or legal restrictions on sharing a de-identified data set, please explain them in detail (e.g., data contain potentially identifying or sensitive patient information) and who has imposed them (e.g., an ethics committee). Please also provide contact information for a data access committee, ethics committee, or other institutional body to which data requests may be sent.

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Reviewers' comments:

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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: Partly

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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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: This is a piece within the complex area of consent and research participation that explores the motivation of research participants and the response to sharing health data for research, even as our health data is less secure than we imagine, and it is not possible to address our common health concerns using data analysis, AI and computation in a world of information networking and meshing.

As there is no qualitative element, it is hard to explore the motivations and concerns in more detail. However this initial study, while bearing limitations in scope and application, can be a springboard for further deeper exploration and research in this space.

Since there were many demographic variables, (possibly mirroring the population under study) it would be hard to arrive at information that can effectively inform policy. The depth of understanding is missing and the cross analysis leaves one in a further quandary, which one hopes will be the basis of a further, and better, study that would better elicit these perceptions. Hybrid studies are on way to improve understanding of the data collected

Reviewer #2: The topic is interesting and the sample size is good.

However, the language needs improvement.

The presentation of tables could be in line with the journal guidelines.

Please go through the attachment for an additional comment.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Dr Animesh Jain

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-20-29473_reviewer.pdf

Do people have an ethical obligation to share their health information? Comparing narratives of altruism and health information sharing in a nationally representative sample

PONE-D-20-29473R1

Dear Dr. Raj,

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.

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Kind regards,

Madhavi Bhargava, MD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE