Spatial-Temporal Integrated Measurement of the Efficiency of Urban Land Use in Yellow River Basin

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Since the Yellow River is one of the largest on land and the formation of land use in its catchments play a very important role in the local and global economy, but also in the environment, in my opinion, this article is extremely important. 
Honorable authors present their research in a scientifically correct way, utilizing authoritative methods and rich bibliographic references, which in fact are quite recent. The results of the research clearly state that the synthesis of the two methodologies followed is necessary for its completeness and indeed, seems to meet the authors' expectation of an "integrated spatial-temporal measurement approach of urban land use efficiency in the Yellow River Basin with the help of GIS technology and spatial analysis models in both temporal and spatial dimensions. ”
However, reading the article very carefully, what I did not seem to understand was that even though the research did have this dual approach, it did not yield a clear synthesis of the results of the two methods. In other words, I am left with the impression that there is a clear demarcation of one and the other method, which leads me to not be able to fully understand how one method interacts with the other to draw synthetic conclusions.
Although the esteemed authors have indeed done a very demanding work with a lot of data, using many indicators and using the "power" of geography, I still think that some extra effort is needed, to achieve exactly the composition I described.
In addition, I consider it necessary that the maps were drawn up to exploit the results of spatial autocorrelation be rendered with much greater clarity, so that the phenomenon they capture over time is clearer, to pay a little more attention to the wording in certain parts of the text, for example, see lines 95-97), wherein several cases the words and sometimes the phrases are repeated and finally put the references of the bibliography correctly in the body of the text, as it exists in eight points (lines 32, 205-209 and 239-240) the indication “Error! Reference source not found ”.

Author Response

Dear respectful reviewer,

First of all, we sincerely appreciate your kindness for giving us the chance to revise our manuscript. We appreciate your valuable and insightful comments, which help us a lot to improve our manuscript. All the comments proposed by you have been addressed. We have already made point to point revision according to your comments. The details of revision are as follow.

 

Comment 1:

The results of the research clearly state that the synthesis of the two methodologies followed is necessary for its completeness and indeed, seems to meet the authors' expectation of an "integrated spatial-temporal measurement approach of urban land use efficiency in the Yellow River Basin with the help of GIS technology and spatial analysis models in both temporal and spatial dimensions. ”

However, reading the article very carefully, what I did not seem to understand was that even though the research did have this dual approach, it did not yield a clear synthesis of the results of the two methods. In other words, I am left with the impression that there is a clear demarcation of one and the other method, which leads me to not be able to fully understand how one method interacts with the other to draw synthetic conclusions.

Although the esteemed authors have indeed done a very demanding work with a lot of data, using many indicators and using the "power" of geography, I still think that some extra effort is needed, to achieve exactly the composition I described.

 

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!In the introduction, the reasons for the choice of the two models are supplemented.Such quantitative methods as Data Envelope Analysis and Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis were used to construct a measurement index system, explore the temporal evolution law of land use in the Yellow River Basin, analyze the spatial differences, and conduct a comprehensive measurement research on spatiotemporal evolution to reveal the characteristics of spatiotemporal evolution.

 

Comment 2:

 In addition, I consider it necessary that the maps were drawn up to exploit the results of spatial autocorrelation be rendered with much greater clarity, so that the phenomenon they capture over time is clearer, to pay a little more attention to the wording in certain parts of the text, for example, see lines 95-97), wherein several cases the words and sometimes the phrases are repeated and finally put the references of the bibliography correctly in the body of the text, as it exists in eight points (lines 32, 205-209 and 239-240) the indication “Error! Reference source not found ”.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!First check the spelling errors carefully in the article.Secondly, optimize the clarity of the picture.Finally, the references were checked and adjusted.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

1. Would you please state more clearly the contribution of your research to the sustainable development of the Yellow River Basin? Based on the findings of your study, what recommendations would you make for this?
2. In the Conclusions and Abstract, show more clearly what the novelty of your research is.
3. I recommend making changes to the structure of the work. The current section "2. Literature Review" should be shortened, leaving only what is needed to understand the essence of the work. What remains after the reduction should be logically combined with the Introduction. That part of the Introduction, where you describe the study area, should be arranged in a separate subsection - "2.1 Study area" in the new section "2. Data and Methods".
4. I recommend moving Table 3 to the Appendix materials at the end of the article.
5. Would you please try to improve the quality of the maps in Figure 5? Moreover, on these maps, there is no need to repeat the legend and scale five times. Show them just once.
6. In Figure 1, please show the border of the Yellow River Basin. It is obvious that this border does not coincide with the boundaries of the administrative regions of China. On the map, you must write the names of all provinces in a capital letter.
7. In Figures 2, 3, and 4, delete the outer frame of the graphs and write the titles of all axes.
8. The title of the article is "... in Yellow River Basin". You have not done any research in the basin of the upper reaches of the river. Therefore, it is fair to write in the title - "... in the basin of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, China".

Author Response

Dear respectful reviewer,

First of all, we sincerely appreciate your kindness for giving us the chance to revise our manuscript. We appreciate your valuable and insightful comments, which help us a lot to improve our manuscript. All the comments proposed by you have been addressed. We have already made point to point revision according to your comments. The details of revision are as follow.

Comment 1:

Would you please state more clearly the contribution of your research to the sustainable development of the Yellow River Basin? Based on the findings of your study, what recommendations would you make for this?

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This revision provides a more detailed description of the purpose and contribution of the research. The data and research results in this article will be disclosed to decision makers and relevant departments, which will help increase the intensity of land use, ease the tension in urban construction land supply and demand, and provide it for regional availability. The smooth implementation of the sustainable development strategy provides theoretical and decision-making support, which has strong practical significance.

Comment 2:

In the Conclusions and Abstract, show more clearly what the novelty of your research is.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This revision makes the article’s innovativeness clearer.In this study, the land use efficiency of the prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin was studied. Data envelopment analysis, Spatial autocorrelation analysis and GIS technology were used to comprehensively measure the land use efficiency of the prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from two aspects of time and space. It makes up for the deficiency and defect of the existing research.

Comment 3:

I recommend making changes to the structure of the work. The current section "2. Literature Review" should be shortened, leaving only what is needed to understand the essence of the work. What remains after the reduction should be logically combined with the Introduction. That part of the Introduction, where you describe the study area, should be arranged in a separate subsection - "2.1 Study area" in the new section "2. Data and Methods".

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This revision adjusts the structure of the article, combines the literature review with the introduction, and divides the research field into the second chapter.

Comment 4:

I recommend moving Table 3 to the Appendix materials at the end of the article.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This modification puts Table 3 in the appendix.

Comment 5:

Would you please try to improve the quality of the maps in Figure 5? Moreover, on these maps, there is no need to repeat the legend and scale five times. Show them just once.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!Figure 5 has been modified to improve clarity and reduce unnecessary legends and scales.

Comment 6:

In Figure 1, please show the border of the Yellow River Basin. It is obvious that this border does not coincide with the boundaries of the administrative regions of China. On the map, you must write the names of all provinces in a capital letter.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!In Figure 1, the boundary of the Yellow River Basin has been added and the name of the province has been marked.

Comment 7:

In Figures 2, 3, and 4, delete the outer frame of the graphs and write the titles of all axes.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!In Figure 2, Figure 3, and Figure 4, the outer frame of the graph is deleted, and the titles of all axes are written.

Comment 8:

The title of the article is "... in Yellow River Basin". You have not done any research in the basin of the upper reaches of the river. Therefore, it is fair to write in the title - "... in the basin of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, China".

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This paper selects 65 Yellow River flowing through prefecture-level cities. Due to the serious lack of data in Qinghai Province, Qinghai Province is not included in this study. However, some areas of Gansu and Ningxia in the upper reaches of the Yellow River still do relevant research.Therefore, the author thinks that the title of the article is "...in the Yellow River Basin".

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Spatial-Temporal Integrated Measurement of the Efficiency of Urban Land Use in Yellow River Basin
The article is a very interesting study where the authours shows the land use efficiency of 65 county-level cities in Yellow River Basin (China) has been measured by using the Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) and Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis methods. However, some changes are suggested so that the impact of the paper can be increased.
I suggest the introduction of the paper be less focused on the study area and be more focused on the problem to be studied.
I also suggest expanding the discussion of the results with the works presented in the literature review. Because the discussion was also focused on china.
The authors talk about decision makers being able to use the data and results of the work, but they do not effectively demonstrate how this could be done.
I recomend a text review in depthly becouse there are a lot of typos mistakes (see e.g. line 32 see line 205, 206, 207 208, and 209 see line 239 and 238);
In the Figure 3. Line Graph of the Average Urban Land Use Efficiency I suggest inserting the standard deviations in the graph. 
Table 3 could be presented as supplementary material.
Figure 5 of the article has a very low resolution and this impairs the reading and interpretation of the figure.

Author Response

Dear respectful reviewer,

First of all, we sincerely appreciate your kindness for giving us the chance to revise our manuscript. We appreciate your valuable and insightful comments, which help us a lot to improve our manuscript. All the comments proposed by you have been addressed. We have already made point to point revision according to your comments. The details of revision are as follow.

Comment 1:

Spatial-Temporal Integrated Measurement of the Efficiency of Urban Land Use in Yellow River Basin
The article is a very interesting study where the authours shows the land use efficiency of 65 county-level cities in Yellow River Basin (China) has been measured by using the Data Envelope Analysis (DEA) and Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis methods. However, some changes are suggested so that the impact of the paper can be increased.

I suggest the introduction of the paper be less focused on the study area and be more focused on the problem to be studied.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This revision makes the article’s innovativeness clearer.In this study, the land use efficiency of the prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin was studied. Data envelopment analysis, Spatial autocorrelation analysis and GIS technology were used to comprehensively measure the land use efficiency of the prefecture-level cities in the Yellow River Basin from two aspects of time and space. It makes up for the deficiency and defect of the existing research.At last,this revision adjusts the structure of the article, combines the literature review with the introduction, and divides the research field into the second chapter.

Comment 2:

I also suggest expanding the discussion of the results with the works presented in the literature review. Because the discussion was also focused on china.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!In the conclusion section, add a comparison between this research and the results of the existing literature.

Comment 3

The authors talk about decision makers being able to use the data and results of the work, but they do not effectively demonstrate how this could be done.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This revision provides a more detailed description of the purpose and contribution of the research. The data and research results in this article will be disclosed to decision makers and relevant departments, which will help increase the intensity of land use, ease the tension in urban construction land supply and demand, and provide it for regional availability. The smooth implementation of the sustainable development strategy provides theoretical and decision-making support, which has strong practical significance.

Comment 4

I recomend a text review in depthly becouse there are a lot of typos mistakes (see e.g. line 32 see line 205, 206, 207 208, and 209 see line 239 and 238);

 

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!This modification has carefully checked the spelling errors in the article.

Comment 5

In the Figure 3. Line Graph of the Average Urban Land Use Efficiency I suggest inserting the standard deviations in the graph. 

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!The standard deviation is inserted in Figure 3.

Comment 6

Table 3 could be presented as supplementary material.
Figure 5 of the article has a very low resolution and this impairs the reading and interpretation of the figure.

Response:Thanks very much for your valuable comment!Add Table 3 as an attachment to the article.Optimized the clarity of Figure 5.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I believe that the new improved version of the article really puts things in the right order and provides a clear methodological approach to the issue addressed in the article.
The esteemed authors have answered the questions unambiguously posed to them, exhausting in my opinion the issues raised.
All maps have been recreated and now depict the phenomenon of Spatio-temporal distribution and dispersion of the examined phenomenon in an intelligible and comprehensible way.
Also, in some parts of the article where there were expressive errors or errors in references in the literature, everything has been corrected.
I thank the honorable authors who took my comments into account.

Author Response

Dear respectful reviewer,

We appreciate your valuable and insightful comments, which help us a lot to improve our manuscript. Based on your opinions, the article has been improved and perfected. Thanks very much for your contributions to the article.

 

 

I believe that the new improved version of the article really puts things in the right order and provides a clear methodological approach to the issue addressed in the article.

The esteemed authors have answered the questions unambiguously posed to them, exhausting in my opinion the issues raised.

All maps have been recreated and now depict the phenomenon of Spatio-temporal distribution and dispersion of the examined phenomenon in an intelligible and comprehensible way.

Also, in some parts of the article where there were expressive errors or errors in references in the literature, everything has been corrected.

I thank the honorable authors who took my comments into account.

 

Response: Thank you so much for your reviewing on the manuscript! We deeply appreciate your recognition of our work. Many thanks to you!

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

• Replace some of the keywords. There is no need to write the same words and phrases as in the title of the manuscript.
• Would you please check the numbering sequence of the tables carefully? In the text of the manuscript, Table 4 follows Table 2. The formerly Table 3, which you moved to Appendix A, should not be included in the general numbering of tables in the text. It should have a different numbering - Table A1. After correcting the numbering of tables in the text, check the references' correctness in the text itself.
• Line 182. Give a link to Table 1.
• In the caption of Figure 1, refer to Table 1, where you provide the abbreviated name ("shorthand") of the provinces.
• The list of references must be following the requirements of the MDPI.

Author Response

Dear respectful reviewer,

First of all, we sincerely appreciate your kindness for giving us the chance to revise our manuscript. We appreciate your valuable and insightful comments, which help us a lot to improve our manuscript. All the comments proposed by you have been addressed. We have already made point to point revision according to your comments. The details of revision are as follow.

Comment 1:

Replace some of the keywords. There is no need to write the same words and phrases as in the title of the manuscript.

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment!The keywords of the article have been modified. Please see the revised version.

Comment 2:

Would you please check the numbering sequence of the tables carefully? In the text of the manuscript, Table 4 follows Table 2. The formerly Table 3, which you moved to Appendix A, should not be included in the general numbering of tables in the text. It should have a different numbering - Table A1. After correcting the numbering of tables in the text, check the references' correctness in the text itself.

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment! The table number of article has been rearranged. The original table 3 has been changed to the attached table, which have a different numbering - Table A1. Meanwhile, the references has been carefully checked and revised. Please see the revised version.

Comment 3:

Line 182. Give a link to Table 1.

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment! The link to Table 1 has been given. Please see the revised version.

Comment 4:

In the caption of Figure 1, refer to Table 1, where you provide the abbreviated name ("shorthand") of the provinces.

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment! The shorthand of the province has been marked in Figure 1 and Table 1. Please see the revised version.

Comment 5:

The list of references must be following the requirements of the MDPI. 

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment! The list of references has been carefully checked and revised. Please see the revised version.

Reviewer 3 Report

The article has been improved enough to be accepted and published. I'd recommend to the authors that within the context of urban efficiency, they address sustainability as the central scope of this journal; in this context, I suggest to authors that cite some papers about sustainability methods, here I mean this: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/3057 that could efficiently measure improvements to sustainability in these studied regions.

The paper does not need to be improved in English, it is fully comprehensive. But typing and spacing errors still need to be checked.

It's a little suggest. Congratulations on the paper!  Regards 

Author Response

Dear respectful reviewer,

First of all, we sincerely appreciate your kindness for giving us the chance to revise our manuscript. We appreciate your valuable and insightful comments, which help us a lot to improve our manuscript. All the comments proposed by you have been addressed. We have already made point to point revision according to your comments. The details of revision are as follow.

Comment 1:

The article has been improved enough to be accepted and published. I'd recommend to the authors that within the context of urban efficiency, they address sustainability as the central scope of this journal; in this context, I suggest to authors that cite some papers about sustainability methods, here I mean this: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/3057 that could efficiently measure improvements to sustainability in these studied regions. 

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment! Based on your suggestions, some relevant references have been added to the introduction section, include the paper you mentioned. Please see the revised version.

Comment 2:

The paper does not need to be improved in English, it is fully comprehensive. But typing and spacing errors still need to be checked. 

Response: Thanks very much for your valuable comment! The typing and spacing errors in the article have been carefully checked and corrected. Please see the revised version.