Updates are available New version dated 2025-07-14

Current Referee Status

Referee status: Indexed

Article Reports

Referee Report: https://doi.org/10.21956/hrbopenres.15524.r46508, Nicola Hancock, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 27 Mar 2025, version 2, indexed

Referee Report: https://doi.org/10.21956/hrbopenres.15524.r46543, Rita Chiaramonte, University of Catania, Catania, 07 Apr 2025, version 2, indexed

Referee Report: https://doi.org/10.21956/hrbopenres.15524.r46546, Diane Trusson, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, 10 Apr 2025, version 2, indexed

Article Comments

Article Comment: <b>Frances Horgan</b>; <i>Posted: 01 Jul 2025</i>; Dear Professor <b>Chiaramonte</b>,&nbsp; Thank you for your very positive feedback and suggested changes to our protocol. We have addressed and made all of these changes as follows.&nbsp; <b>Title:</b> The current title is unclear. Please revise it to more explicitly reflect the aim and methodology of the study. The title should clearly inform the reader about the scope and purpose of the manuscript. <b><i>Response </i></b> <i>– we have revised the title of the protocol as follows “What are the mechanisms and contexts for a supported Life After Stroke Pathway: Protocol for a Rapid Realist Review” to reflect the scope and purpose of our review.</i> <b>Abstract:</b> The aim of the study is currently unclear in the abstract. This will help readers quickly understand the intent and contribution of the work. <b><i>Response –</i></b> <i> we have revised the aim of the review to ensure that readers will be clear on the intent and contribution of our review in the context of a life after stroke care pathway, the revised aim is as follows:&nbsp; </i> <i>This realist review will examine the mechanisms and contexts for a supported life after stroke care pathway.</i> <b>Table 3:&nbsp;</b>Table 3 would benefit from more detailed discussion and contextualization in the main text. This will enhance the reader’s understanding and make the manuscript more engaging. Please provide more narrative explanation in the text that connects to the contents of Table 3. <b><i>Response</i></b> <i> – we have added some additional details linking the text and CIPTs to Table 3.</i> Consider incorporating references to support the relevance of each theme listed in the table. For example, for the theme “Communication”, see the following: DOI: 10.23736/S1973-9087.20.06242-5 <b><i>Reply –</i></b> <i> Thank you for this suggestion, we have added references to Table 3 to support the relevance of each theme listed in the table.</i> Table 3 represents the developmental framework for your next study. This should be emphasized more clearly, highlighting that while the literature discusses these themes, it rarely does so in the context of post-discharge care—and not as comprehensively as your study aims to do. <b><i>Reply –</i></b> <i> Thank you for this feedback, we have highlighted this focus of our work and this detail preceded Table 4.</i> <i>On behalf of the author team, thank you for taking the time to review our protocol. </i> <i>Frances Horgan</i> Dear Professor Trusson,&nbsp; Thank you for your very positive feedback and suggested changes. We have reviewed the protocol to improve its readability, we have addressed the complex sentences as follows: <b>Page 3 -</b> Second sentence under the heading 'the expert panel'. <i><b>Response –</b> the long sentence relating to the members of the expert panel has been broken up to improve readability.</i> <b>Page 6 -</b>The entries under the heading 'Early COMCs' in Table 3. <i><b>Response –</b> the long sentences relating to the Early COMCs in Table 3 have been reviewed, revised and broken up to improve readability.</i> <b>Page 8 - </b>Last sentence in the first paragraph of the discussion. <i><b>Response –</b> the last sentence of paragraph 1 of the Discussion has been reviewed and revised to improve readability.</i> We apologise that we missed some typographical errors, we have proofread the protocol again and we have corrected these typographical errors. Kind regards, Frances Horgan on behalf of the author team

Grant Information: Health Research Board Ireland [APA-2022-019]. This work was also supported by the Irish Heart Foundation and the HSE National Stroke Clinical Programme. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.