Manuscript ID: JOSTA-202608-C432
Article Title: Cold Plasma for Inducing Plant Defence Responses against Insect Herbivores
Double-anonymous review Accepted| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Submission Date | 09 August 2026 |
| Editorial Screening | Completed |
| External Reviewers | 3 |
| Review Rounds | 1 |
| Revision Type | Minor Revision |
| Final Decision | Accepted |
| Acceptance Date | 29 September 2026 |
09 August 2026
Manuscript submitted through the JOSTA submission portal.
14 August 2026
Manuscript passed preliminary editorial checks.
29 August 2026
Three independent reviewers accepted the review assignment.
12 September 2026
Reviewers recommended publication following minor revision.
21 September 2026
Authors submitted a revised version addressing reviewer concerns.
29 September 2026
Accepted for publication.
30 September 2026
Article published in Volume 2, Issue 3.
Reviewer concerns are summarised by category. Specific comments and author responses are confidential.
| Category | Nature of Concern | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Scope & Focus Definition | Scope and objective of the review clearly defined, sharpening the central focus, which had spanned cold-plasma biology, plant stress responses, plant defence, and insect pest management somewhat diffusely | ✓ Addressed |
| Literature-Search Strategy | Databases, keywords, period covered, and study-selection criteria stated for this narrative review | ✓ Addressed |
| Introduction – Structure & Flow | Paragraph structure and transitions revised, including reordering key sentences and providing a broader overview of alternative pest-management strategies before narrowing to cold plasma | ✓ Addressed |
| Referencing Gaps | Missing citations added in several sections lacking supporting references | ✓ Addressed |
| Abbreviation Consistency | Repeated re-abbreviation of ROS/RNS removed after their first definition in the Abstract | ✓ Addressed |
| Mechanistic Evidence Distinction | Direct insecticidal effects of cold plasma distinguished from indirect plant-mediated effects; experimentally demonstrated mechanisms distinguished from proposed ones; increased antioxidant/defence-enzyme activity no longer presented as direct evidence of insect resistance without corresponding insect-performance data | ✓ Addressed |
| Critical Evaluation Strengthening | Evidence linking each defence pathway to actual changes in herbivore behaviour, development, survival, or reproduction evaluated more critically, rather than describing pathways independently | ✓ Addressed |
| Literature Currency | Recent studies incorporated, including cold-plasma seed-treatment effects on herbivore resistance in soybean and sorghum-sudangrass, and plasma-activated water effects on spider mite populations | ✓ Addressed |
| Field-Scale Evidence & Applied Considerations | Discussion expanded to note that field-scale efficacy, economic feasibility, treatment standardisation, persistence, and compatibility with integrated pest management require substantially more evidence beyond current laboratory findings | ✓ Addressed |
| Redundant/Generic Content Reduction | Generic, textbook-like descriptions of conventional plant defence shortened to allow greater emphasis on the central research question | ✓ Addressed |
| Conceptual Integration | A conceptual/graphical model linking plasma parameters → ROS/RNS → plant signalling → defence traits → herbivore response added to strengthen conceptual integration | ✓ Addressed |
| Content Expansion & Specificity | Specific content added throughout, including named structural defences, defence-related genes, non-enzymatic metabolites, biological effects of cold plasma, clarified comparison basis for a terpenoid-related statement, and expanded discussion of the penultimate section | ✓ Addressed |
| Conclusion Depth & Balance | Conclusion substantially elaborated and rebalanced to acknowledge species- and pest-dependent variability, growth-defence trade-offs, and the largely observational (rather than gene-expression or molecular) nature of current evidence, closing with a call for more extensive studies to optimise cold plasma as a pest-management strategy | ✓ Addressed |
| Terminology Consistency | "Cold plasma," "cold atmospheric plasma (CAP)," "non-thermal plasma," "atmospheric cold plasma," and "plasma-activated water (PAW)" used consistently, with distinctions defined at first occurrence where the terms are not strictly interchangeable | ✓ Addressed |
| Table Formatting | Tables 1–3 checked for formatting, line wrapping, and spacing consistency, including missing spaces between words and citations | ✓ Addressed |
| Language & Sentence Clarity | Lengthy, multi-claim sentences broken into shorter statements; hedging language such as "suggests," "may contribute," and "is associated with" used where direct experimental evidence is not available, and minor word-choice corrections applied | ✓ Addressed |
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