Sustainable Closed-Loop Mask Supply Chain Network Design Using Mathematical Modeling and a Fuzzy Multi-Objective Approach
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Greetings,
The paper needs to be corrected to make it better.
The biggest research problem of pages 4, 5 and 6. The question is what is this? It's not a table, and it's still endless. What indicators this at first glance it must be corrected without further ado. Then you have to put emphasis on sustainability. Sustainability is based on economic, social and environmental criteria. Emphasize this in the paper. There are 11 authors in the paper and only 17 references. Increase references.
The results should stand in the abstract first. The introduction should clearly state the aim of the paper, what is new in this paper. COVID-19 and masks better explain what has been researched. In the selection Methods and methodology should be corrected. Explain the research methodology and urgently correct the "table" and what this is. The next thing you get the results, the better explained. Make a real discussion and compare the results with similar works. In conclusion, explain the results, say what the research limits are and give guidelines for future research.
The journal is on the SCI-E list, so the paper must be in line with that. Keep this in mind when correcting the paper. Take some similar paper published in the magazines that are on Q1, see how it is written in them and correct the paper accordingly.
Author Response
Dear Respected Reviewer,
thanks for your best attention, our response to your comments is attached.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Main Comment
The outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, which is increasing the number of victims every day, has created many changes in today's world. The use of various masks is the most important social tool against this virus. Given the importance of rapid and quality supply of masks in the current situation, it is necessary to study its supply chain in particular. In this research, the design of a closed chain supply chain network for different types of masks is assessed. The studied supply chain includes suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers in the forward flow and collection centers, separate centers, recycling centers and disposal centers in the backward flow. In this regard, a multi-objective mathematical model with the objectives of increasing the total profit and reducing the total environmental impact and maximizing social responsibility is presented. The optimization of this mathematical model has been done using fuzzy optimization approach in GAMS software. The results of this study show that the maximizing the total profit and minimizing the environmental effects and maximizing social responsibility are in contrast to each other, because reducing the environmental impact leads to an increase in total costs and thus reduces the organization's profit.
The paper is well structured and informative, with updated references, but authors are encouraged to go to another phase of manuscript review to address the following issues. The manuscript should be revised to address errors in several places. Several examples from the text follow (p - page):
(p.3) Figure 1 is difficult to read, please edit it to read. It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 1.
(p.3, l-132) References need to be changed, references (10-13) cannot be after reference 17.
(p.6, l-180) (12-1415 show - it is probably a mistake, please correct it.
(p.10) It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 2, and add a description of the units on the x - axis and y - axis.
(p.10) It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 3, and add a description of the units on the x - axis and y - axis.
(p.11) It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 4, and add a description of the units on the x - axis and y - axis.
(p.12) It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 5, and add a description of the units on the x - axis and y - axis.
(p.12) It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 6, and add a description of the units on the x - axis and y - axis.
(p.13) It is necessary to add a source to describe the Figure 7, and add a description of the units on the x - axis and y - axis.
(p.13) In conclusions, in addition to the above, I would expect an expression of opinion and perspective of the authors on the issue of the paper. Finally, the authors of the article should pay more attention to the overall writing and clarity of their article, which should support the demonstration of their findings.
Comments for author File: Comments.docx
Author Response
Dear Respected Reviewer,
thanks for your best attention, our response to your comments is attached.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Greetings,
The authors corrected the paper. You should have complied with all the remarks. You respected the majority. That is why I accept your paper.
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Main Comment
The outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, which is increasing the number of victims every day, has created many changes in today's world. The use of various masks is the most important social tool against this virus. Given the importance of rapid and quality supply of masks in the current situation, it is necessary to study its supply chain in particular. In this research, the design of a closed chain supply chain network for different types of masks is assessed. The studied supply chain includes suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers in the forward flow and collection centers, separate centers, recycling centers and disposal centers in the backward flow. In this regard, a bi-objective mathematical model with the objectives of increasing the total profit and reducing the total environmental impact is presented. The optimization of this mathematical model has been done using fuzzy optimization approach in GAMS software. The results of this study show that the maximizing the total profit and minimizing the environmental effects are in contrast to each other, because reducing the environmental impact leads to an increase in total costs and thus reduces the organization's profit. Also, increasing demand for mask types increases the supply chain's profit linearly, but its impact on the chain's environmental impact is completely non-linear.
The topics of the article are interesting and current, but due to the fact that the article was not prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the journal Sustainability, the template was not used, the required structure of writing the article was followed, the method of citation. References must be numbered in order of appearance in the text (including citations in tables and legends) and listed individually at the end of the manuscript.I recommend preparing the references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote, ReferenceManager or Zotero to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references.
Due to this fact, I do not recommend the article for publication, after its revision and supplementation according to the instructions of the journal Sustainability, it will be suitable for submission to the journal Sustainability.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Greetings,
The paper needs to be improved. First, it is necessary to use templates for MDPI journals. Second, the number of references is insufficient. Third, the paper should be related to sustainability in the title. Fourth, the paper is more for some journal of operations management rather than a journal of sustainability.
The paper needs to be corrected in its entirety. The concept is good but the focus is only on the model. The results are poorly presented. The paper should be returned to the authors to be repaired and then reloaded.
