Peer Review History

Original SubmissionApril 30, 2023
Decision Letter - Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, Editor

PONE-D-23-12788Griffith theory of physical fractures, statistical procedures and entropy  production: Rosetta stone’s legacyPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Atenas,

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 all the comments made by the reviewer. 

Please submit your revised manuscript by Sep 21 2023 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.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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 If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references.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 If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.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

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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

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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: 1. The introduction part introduces too much about the stele itself and too little about the experimental process and research direction of this paper. It is suggested to adjust the proportion of the introduction part to highlight the theme.

2. The design part of the model uses a square model with a side length of 2cm, while the actual stone tablet was a rectangle before it was broken. It is suggested to add a contrastive description of square and rectangle in the model design to improve the rigor of the experiment.

3. In the design of the model, the numerical result directly illustrates the same loss area as the square with 6 breakpoints. It is suggested to add 5 or other breakpoints corresponding to the data and stone tablet actual data comparison process.

4. 2 Take the Rosetta Stone as an example. Part of the assumption is that the surface of the stone changes from 4 vertices to 6 vertices.

5. It is suggested that the definition of entropy should be added before the formula of entropy, so as to facilitate readers' understanding of this part.

6. The conclusion is suggested to be rewritten. The conclusion of this paper is the description and summary of the previous experimental results, without innovation and sublimation part of the description.

7. There are obvious problems with the format of the chart. You need to carefully check the format of each icon and correct formatting errors in the chart.

8. There are some basic grammatical errors in the article.

9. The original formula in the article is suggested to supplement the formula derivation process.

10. There are obvious errors in the structure of the article. It is recommended to recalibrate the structure of the article and indent the first line at the beginning of part 3.

11. At the end of the paper, the suggestions of future outlook are described, for example, the improvement ideas of the model and the process of data processing are described in detail.

12. The contribution description of the article is not obvious enough, so it is suggested to supplement the detailed contribution of the article.

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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.

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

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Revision 1

The response to the Academic Editor and Reviewer has been appended within the document titled 'Response to Reviewers. We add a copy here.

Response to Editor:

1) We formatted the article according to PLOS ONE’s style requirements.

2) The generated code (written in Mathematica) is available in the following repository https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8317810 .

3) The authors received no specific funding for this work.

4) The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

5) The minimal underlying dataset is generated by the code that outputs a txt file (S1_Dataset.txt). An example of the txt file was uploaded as supporting information to PLOS ONE.

6) The provided code (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8317810) outputs the minimal underlying data set as a txt file. The txt file (S1_Dataset.txt) was uploaded as supporting information to PLOS ONE.

7) We have reviewed our reference list, and it is complete and correct.

Response to Reviewer

1) Thank you for pointing this out. We added a new paragraph that explains more about the experimental process and shrunk the paragraphs related to the stele.

2) We added a paragraph that contrasts the probability distribution of a square and a rectangle.

3) Thanks for the suggestion. Certainly, the actual simulation is set to six breaking points, whereas our illustrative Figures 2 and 3 have only five breaking points. We have changed the respective figures and set them to six breaking points.

4) Thanks for the comment. We have added your suggestion to our article (Section 5, paragraph 2).

5) Thank you for this suggestion. Accordingly, we added the definition of entropy before equation 3.

6) We thank the referee for this comment. Effectively revised the conclusions, we have rewritten the terms indicated (emphasizing innovation, important and novel aspects developed in our work). The conclusions have also been written promoting more generic aspects.

7) We have, accordingly, changed the format of the chart in figures 4 and 6.

8) Thank you for pointing this out. We went through the entire manuscript to eliminate grammatical errors.

9) This comment of the referee was combined with comment 5. And that formula was better explained. Thank you for this suggestion. In the same sense, we have given greater support to the rule of fractures related to the Griffiths criterion by incorporating explicit references to that theory.

10) We have adjusted the article's formatting to align with the PLOS ONE template. We took great care to meticulously review and restructure the entire article, paying close attention to the indentation at the commencement of each section. Your guidance has proven immensely helpful in enhancing the overall quality and presentation of the manuscript.

11) Thank you for pointing this out. We have considered your comment, and it was incorporated with comment 6 in the conclusions section.

12) Thank you for this suggestion. We have reinforced the contribution of the article in the conclusion section. Some applications of the model are described in the Introduction section (see the paragraphs Rolling stones in rivers, Crack networks, and Breakage of solid structures).

Attachments
Attachment
Submitted filename: Response_to_Editor_and_Reviewers.pdf
Decision Letter - Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, Editor

Griffith theory of physical fractures, statistical procedures and entropy  production: Rosetta stone’s legacy

PONE-D-23-12788R1

Dear Dr. Atenas,

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.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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

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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 #1: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: 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

**********

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

**********

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: The article has made significant improvements. All comments have been answered. It can be accepted as it is.

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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

**********

Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez, Editor

PONE-D-23-12788R1

Griffith theory of physical fractures, statistical procedures and entropy  production: Rosetta stone’s legacy

Dear Dr. Atenas:

I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

If we can help with anything else, please email us at plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access.

Kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Antonio Riveiro Rodríguez

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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