An Integrated Approach to Assess Potential and Sustainability of Handmade Carpet Production in Different Areas of the East Azerbaijan Province of Iran

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

My ethical concern with this article is that it doesn't really address culture.  There is little if any discussion of how craftspeople learn to make rugs, whether both genders make rugs (men are often reluctant to learn "women's" crafts and vice versa), relationships between rug makers and wool or silk suppliers, etc.  If the intent is to monetize rug making, then the cultural traditions need to be understood and respected.  When crafts are standardized, certain styles, aesthetics, construction methods are emphasized, which means that others are lost.  So I have two concerns:

1. Cultural norms and traditions need to be incorporated.  Otherwise the project will not be successful.
2. As a folklorist, I am uncomfortable with the idea that government or academic officials are going to make these choices.

Which brings me to my third concern - the authors do not appear to have talked to craftspeople at all.  They discuss talking with professors and businesspeople, both of which are good and useful, but ultimately the people who really understand how the rugs are made are their makers.  If this project is to be successful, craftspeople should be more directly involved.

Finally, I wonder what the dyes are made of.  American companies no longer work with dyes in the US because of health concerns.  Are the dyes used in making these rugs dangerous, and if so how can the rug makers best be protected?

That concludes my ethical concerns, many of which would probably not have been brought up by anyone other than a folklorist.  So perhaps they should be ignored.  The article itself has no ethical concerns, but I do worry about the larger project described here.

Other issues with the paper.  The English needs to be tightened - I have made a few notes (which I will attach to this review), but there are many more errors to be fixed.  There are issues with "the" and "a" (sometimes there when they shouldn't be, sometimes not there when they should), plurals ("is" or "are"), prepositions ("of" "as"), spelling and, in a few cases, incorrect word choices ("martial" for "material").  I suggest that a native speaker copy edit the article carefully.  There are also incomplete sentences.

Although they look good, many of the figures and graphs are confusing.  Readers need more instruction in how to read them (and what they are supposed to notice).

Early in the article, there are many statements along the lines of "it is known that..." or "it is well known that..."  I don't doubt that these points are locally accepted and understood to be true, but that doesn't mean that they really are.  Craft styles and techniques are often much more recent than people claim.  Be careful of such phrases and/or cite the information more carefully.   

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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^{we appreciate your  remarkable supports, we have prepared detailed answer letter for your valuable comments. We kindly refer for the answer letter for covering your comments!}

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents a GIS-MCDA analysis approach to identify areas in East Azerbaijani Province that qualify as economically sustainable options for the production of handmade carpets.

Preservation of traditional crafts is very important, and from this perspective, it is very interesting to see methodological approaches aimed at this objective.

However, currently, the work seems to produce results that may be of interest only at a national level, for businesses and decision makers. In order to qualify as a journal publication, the paper needs to adopt a wider perspective and discuss methodological concerns and exemplify if/how this analysis has yielded valid results.  In this respect, the authors could consider assessing the outcomes of this study with business owners, as well as decision makers and authorities.

In addition, further elaboration is need with regard to the causal indicators selected. In particular:

• The causal indicators include: educated woman / man in urban area (e, g), educated woman/man in rural area (f, h), uneducated woman / man in urban area (i, k), uneducated woman/man in rural area (j, l). It is not clear who is eligible to be considered as educated (from what level of education they should have graduated), and also it is not clear why different indicators for urban and rural areas should be used for the GIS analysis. An area is either rural or urban; therefore, for an urban area, indicators f, h, j, l would be zero.
• It is not clear what the indicator "tourism characteristics" is and how it is measured.
• Generally, additional explanations need to be provided for all indicators and for the pertinent value ranges.
• The rationale for selecting them as criteria for the analysis needs also to be explained. For example, at least to this reviewer, it is not clear why family ratio is an important parameter to consider with regard to handmade carpet sustainability.

For the ANP method, it is not clear if the indicators were decided through interviews or surveys. Currently, both methods are mentioned, but it is not clear to the reader if both were applied and how. Further details on the methods are required, as well as a description of the employed questionnaire.

Also, a discussion needs to be conducted with regard to other factors that may have an impact on the economic sustainability of handmade carpet industry. In other words, would the location of a handmade carpet production be the only factor for achieving sustainability? In this respect, the authors should discuss findings from other relevant studies and explain how these are related to the outcomes of this work.

Furthermore, English syntax and style need to be substantially improved, in order to make the paper suitable for a journal publication. Currently, the writing style makes the paper difficult to understand and follow at some points.

Additional remarks:

• It is stated that: “In fact, handcrafts have many mysteries and traditions, for example, the pattern of handmade carpets represents the heritage of ancient Iran and the rich culture of Iran”. Probably the authors refer to carpets made in Iran, however the statement is written in such a way that it implies that all handmade carpets produced throughout the world represent the heritage of ancient Iran; therefore the statement should be rephrased.
• Table 1 is difficult to understand. What does the column abandon mean? Also, when reporting numbers in tables, please right align them.
• In Table 2, there are no row dividers, therefore it is difficult to understand how exactly the entries of the third column are related to those of the second column (e.g. which sub-criterion is a study result, which stems from the Statistical Centre of Iran, etc.)
• When reporting numbers please use “,” to make numbers easier to read (a comma is placed every third digit to the left of the decimal point and is used in numbers with four or more digits)
• In the Methodology section, Figure 2 is incorrectly referenced instead of Figure 3.

 

 

Author Response

 ^{Dear reviewer.}

^{we appreciate your  remarkable supports, we have prepared detailed answer letter for your valuable comments. We kindly refer for the answer letter for covering your comments!}

^{many thanks,}

^authors  

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors make an important contribution to literature by addressing handmade carpet production in different areas of East Azerbaijan Province-Iran. The paper is very good structured and embeds the research question into the literature. Analysis is based on a sound and innovative methodological methodology that the authors have already successfully employed in previous publications. Nevertheless, the authors should at least mention the possible contribution of handmade carpets in the context of circular economy paradigm.

Make clear that proliferation of hand-made carpets could contribute to substantial carbon-savings both in Iran and internationally. To indicate the carbon footprint of a country such as Iran refer cursorily to Sadik-Zada & Gatto (2020) and Sadik-Zada & Loewenstein (2020).

Please delineate the difference of the East-Azerbaijani carpets to the ancient carpets of Karabakh in Northern Azerbaijan. There are some differences in the forms and contents between these two groups. Differentiate between East Azerbaijani carpets and carpets in the rest of Iran. Refer to Kazim-Zada (2011) in Harmony Mathematics of Azerbaijan Carpet Patterns

Author Response

 ^{Dear reviewer.}

^{we appreciate your  remarkable supports, we have prepared detailed answer letter for your valuable comments. We kindly refer for the answer letter for covering your comments!}

^{many thanks,}

^authors  

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have improved the manuscript, however there are still issues that need to be clarified, in order to assist readers understand the research that you have conducted.

In particular:

• In the indicators section, it is not clear who is eligible to be considered as educated (from what level of education they should have graduated). Please clarify.
• Please clarify what family ratio is.

Other minor issues to address:

• When reporting numbers please use “,” to make numbers easier to read. Although this has been changed in some parts of the text, in other parts it hasn’t. Please apply this change consistently throughout the manuscript.
• There seem to be two different font types used throughout the text

English syntax and style still needs to be substantially improved. Several grammar errors need to be fixed. Just to name a few:

• Thus, selection of the beneficial indicators might varies --> might vary
• for improving the model robust and its efficiency --> the model robustness and its efficiency
• the  use  of  age groups  between  20  and  60  years  were  performed --> Therefore, participants were aged between 20 and 60 years
• Figure 7: The sustainability of EAP to handmade carper development --> carpet development
• the dramatics growth of the Iranian?
• Chicness carpet? Perhaps Chinese carpet?
• Considering to indispensable role of the handicraft sector --> Considering the indispensable
• specific tradition which has rout --> specific tradition rooted
• Culturally specking?
• most of the craftspeople are straggling from the financial issues --> are struggling with
• Table 1: employs --> employees?
• in the both internal and external markets --> in both internal and external markets

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Many thanks for the remarkable support! you made once again valuable comments and we revised the paper and we hope that you will find the new version to be accepted. 

many thanks 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx