The Crossovers and Connectivity between Systems Engineering and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Scoping Study
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Thank you for your contribution. I enjoyed reading your submitted paper and appreciated the mixed methods applied to uncover concept patterns and the cross-overs between the SDGs and systems engineering.
The literature revision is thorough and systematic and the inter-relations well established. However, as far as I can see it, the practical implications of this work are less well developed. It is stated that “From a practical perspective, our paper provides systems engineering practitioners and the sustainability research community with a guide to design, review and improve the current implementation framework, approach, and roadmap according to their value creation goals.”
However, no clear “guidelines” or roadmap is proposed as an outcome of this study. Could you please further develop the practical implications of the work.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
First of all, I found this a very interesting paper for researchers involved with the SDGs. Some of the perceptions I myself had about the linkage of certain concepts have been scientifically confirmed in this paper. I congratulate you.
However, I think you have to do a lot of work to structure the paper well. You should work on each of the sections according to the criteria of scientific writing. Some results need to be clarified. And, fundamentally, I think there is a lack of more discussion of the results obtained. .
Here are some general comments on the document.
- You should adapt your paper to the format of the journal. Please use the templates provided on the website.
- ABSTRACT:
You must rewrite the Abstract. You should include the following points:
o Gap identified
o Aim of the research
o Methodology used
o Main conclusions
o Future lines of research.
- INTRODUCTION.
You should rewrite this section. You should go deeper into the literature review to define the gap in the research. Delete the last part of the introduction (L70-113). These lines should either be part of other sections of the document or are not necessary.
- METHODOLOGY
I think you should structure the section by phases, numbering it as 2.1, 2.2., 2.3... Check figure 1 to match what is shown in it with the text.
- RESULTS
The section is very unstructured. I think it would help to understand the results if the section was structured according to the phases of the methodology. Present the results in a clear and orderly way.
- DISCUSSION
In this section you should discuss the results obtained. You should interpret them and compare them with other previously published data.
I do not understand anything in this section where you do a literature review. The literature review is not a discussion of results.
I believe that much of the information presented here could be included in the introduction of the paper.
- CONCLUSIONS
I cannot evaluate the conclusions of the paper without having the research results and the structured discussion well presented.
As a general comment I would say that the conclusions should include the most relevant results of your research, what the limiting factors have been and clear lines of where to continue the research.
In addition to the above, in the attached document you have marked specific comments linked to each of the yellow marks.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Los cruces y la conectividad entre la ingeniería de sistemas-2 y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible: un estudio de alcance
El objetivo del trabajo fue estudiar la conectividad entre la ingeniería de sistemas y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS). Así, la relevancia y actualidad del tema elegido se justifica porque el ODS es un tema muy actual y de vital importancia para la sociedad. Además, los autores brindan orientación para mejorar, rediseñar y evaluar la implementación de los ODS.
To do this, it describes a logical, objective and adequate structure, efficient language is used and some degree of innovation is provided. Nevertheless, I must tell you that you should reduce the percentage of plagiarism because it is very high regardless of the bibliography. It is 28%, as observed in the attached report.
Title: The proposed title is consistent with the content and topic discussed in the paper.
Abstract: The abstract is clear and concise and it presents the objective of the paper, the used methodology and the achieved results. Maybe justifying the novelty in the introduction could be a good option and insist on the used methodology, providing more detail about it.
Method: The research methods are clear and objectives and follow a logical structure.
Figures and tables: the quality and detail of the tables and the figures is adequate and clear, according to the discussed topic in the article.
Language: the used language is easily understood and errors are barely detected in it.
Structure: The followed sequence is logical and facilitates the understanding of the content of the text.
Innovation: The issue addressed in the text is quite innovative if we understand that SDGs are one of the main concerns of society.
In my view, some issues addressed are rather general and needs further explanations and clarifications:
- It is important to reduce the percentage of plagiarism because it is high, as seen in the attached report (28%).
- There is no section that performs a literature review on the SDGs. I advise putting a section detailing the history of the SDGs today.
- Creo que unas conclusiones adecuadas deben exponer las limitaciones del trabajo realizado, que conviene detallar en este último apartado del artículo.
Por todo esto, recomiendo la publicación del artículo pero con mayores modificaciones.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
Congratulations on the work done. The new version of the document is much clearer than the previous one. You have made a great effort.
I recommend that you improve the quality of the images for publication as they are sometimes pixelated.
On the other hand, to complete the revision of the document, I think it would be interesting to improve the conclusions. Indicate in them your main findings or contributions. You have them written in the discussion as well as future lines of research. This is not a problem but you should unify everything in the conclusions. It would be interesting to quantify (as much as possible) your findings in the conclusions.
Kinds Regards
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you very much for your time and efforts spent on our paper. We took your advice and made the following changes in the revised paper.
- We uploaded the original figures in a zip file separately from the manuscript. They are in high resolution and should not have any quality issues.
- We revised the conclusion based on your suggestions. It now reads:
The present study was designed to analyze the existing literature that use a systems engineering perspective to advance the SDGs. One of the significant findings to emerge from this study is that systems engineering has great potential to contribute to global sustainability. It offers various approaches and toolsets to enable the success of complex systems, drives the evolution of socio-technical systems, and assists decision-makers to implement the SDGs in an improved and traceable manner. Our investigation also determines the relationship between systems engineering and sustainable development and proposes interactions that may contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. It confirms that systems engineering has been recognized as an effective way to reframe the SDGs.
The insights gained from this study may be of assistance in creating a better understanding of the concept crossovers between systems engineering and sustainable development. It lays the groundwork for future research into the holism and dynamics of the SDGs and adds to the growing body of research that advocates using systems engineering methods to integrate sectoral efforts towards global sustainability. Systems engineering can act as a shared foundation for future research in harmonizing, optimizing and advancing the SDGs.
We hope that our findings, analysis, and discussion can pave the way for an appreciation of the value of systems engineering for the SDGs. We expect that future studies can take advantage of the crossovers between systems engineering and the SDGs to discover specific ways that systems engineering can contribute to a sustainable future.
Reviewer 3 Report
After reviewing the changes made by the authors, I propose the publication of the current version
Author Response
Thank you very much for your time and efforts spent on this paper.
