PONE-D-23-23873Spatial Distribution of Home Delivery and Baby not Receive Postnatal Check-up within 2 Months after Birth in Ethiopia: Bivariate AnalysisPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Awoke,

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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

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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

Reviewer #2: 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

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: A good effort's to highlight this topic by providing with detailed statistical analysis,but there are many already provided literatures which focuses on postnatal checkup and delivery care,. This study cannot add much new information to the existing literature.

Reviewer #2: � Comments to Authors:

Title:

• The title of the study is relatively good. However, the authors should revise the title to be more inclusive and precise to the study’s objectives and aims (such as the determinants of PNC utilization).

Introduction:

• It is clear, concise, and straightforward, and the rationale and aim of the study are well-stated. In addition, important definitions were illustrated clearly.

Methods:

• The authors conducted a database study and obtained ethical approval as requested.

• Sampling method was illustrated properly.

Results:

• The authors conducted a thorough analysis of the results, supported by sufficient amount of data justifying the conclusion. Nevertheless, the analysis assumed a linear relationship between dependent and independent variables, overlooking potential confounding factors that could impact the accuracy of correlations. Therefore, further research may be warranted to validate these hypotheses.

Discussion:

• In the discussion section, the authors have effectively compared their findings with those of similar studies and offered reasonable explanations for both the similarities and differences. It is crucial, however, to avoid over interpreting the data.

• While the authors did highlight the clinical implications of their study's findings, it is worth noting that they missed addressing the study's limitations. It is advisable to have a transparent discussion of these limitations to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the research's scope and potential constraint.

• Further clinical application should be mentioned for policy makers, together with future direction and recommendation.

Conclusion:

• Correctly answered the research question.

• Authors should consider conciseness of conclusion to represent the whole findings.

Minor:

• English editing and proofreading by a native English speaker needed. The authors should correct some typos and language mistakes.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Bayan Al Omari

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Peer_Review final.docx

Spatial patterns and determinants of low utilization of delivery care service and postnatal check-up within 2 months following birth in Ethiopia: Bivariate analysis

PONE-D-23-23873R1

Dear Dr. Shegaw Amaru Awoke,

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,

Gulzhanat Aimagambetova

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 #2: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: 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 #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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 #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: 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 #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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 #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Article entitled "Spatial patterns and determinants of low utilization of delivery care service and

postnatal check-up within 2 months following birth in Ethiopia: Bivariate analysis" addresses important issues of nonclinical childbirth practice and postnatal care. Authors address all previous comments. Authors use statistical methods to satisfactory level. Although, I do not agree with some terminology use, I think it is more of a question of preferences. Specifically, authors are recommended to revise the usage of terms "bivariate" and "binary", whether they appropriately use them in a context of the article. I do not have any further comments.

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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 #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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