Data-Driven Resource Efficiency Evaluation and Improvement of the Logistics Industry in 30 Chinese Provinces and Cities
, Yuxia Guo 1,*, Xue Wu 1, Cui Wang 1,2, Yu Zhang 3, Hongjun Liu 1, Yujia Liu 1, Aiyong Lin 1 and Fagang Hu 1
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper addresses a relevant topic. The paper proposes a data-driven technique for analyzing and 14 optimizing the LIRE to improve it and achieve sustainable development.
1) The research gap was well discussed in the introduction, however, the intention of the research needs to be clearer as also, as the contributions (theoretical, methodological and practical) and the novelty of the paper.
2) Also in the introduction, it is important to show how the researchers conducted the study in terms of methodological procedures and main results, as shown in the abstract.
3) Although the methods section is well organized and written, with the details of the methodological design, data collection, data analysis and the results being well described and presented, the authors did not present the section related to the theoretical background.
4) There is no literature review, which is mandatory for any kind of paper. The theories related to the topic were not presented.
5) Considering that there is no section related to the theoretical background, the discussion of the results in light of theory is not enough to reinforce the arguments of the study, which is also mandatory in a paper. The discussion lacks mainly related to the relation with sustainable development issues, this topic should be more discussed.
6) The paper did not demonstrate the contributions of the paper, in terms of theoretical, methodological and practical contributions.
7) In the conclusions section, the limitations of the paper and the suggestions for further research were not discussed, this is also mandatory for any paper.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
In the introduction section, the author(s) have described clearly the research purposes; the urgency of research based on the analysis of the theoretical background, empirical research, and the current problem & fact. The authors also illustrate general research methodology and the research structure that makes the research clearer.
The materials and methods section also has depicted research planning and implementation which explains how data is collected, processed, and implemented to produce research outputs
The results and conclusion sections are clear.
Almost all sections have been delivered clearly. there are a few notes, for instance, regarding writing citations, it is needed to be consistent (e.g., line 78, the citation style is different from others). Moreover, in the materials and methods section in line 160 "EPS database and other data" is need to be described briefly before they are used. Please check line 747 in references.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
This paper proposes an indicator for measuring the sustainability of the logistics sector in the Chinese provinces. The data used to build the indicator comes from different Chinese administrations at national and provincial level (population, transport infrastructure endowment, trade in tonnage, co2 emissions,...). Authors use Data envelopment analysis to measure the environmental performance of each province.
In the second part of the paper there are some maps showing how the indicator varies between the Chinese provinces. Apparently Inner Mongolia has the highest score but the reasons are not clearly explained.
In its current form the paper is far to be ready for publication. It is very difficult to understand what is the purpose, the value-added of the indicator with regard to previous ones. Furthermore, there are many and very different components (Table1) and it is difficult to understand their individual contribution to the final score. This is particularly problematic because, it makes very difficult to provide an interpretation, as seen in the section 3.2 which is very descriptive and do not explain the reasons behind the geographical distribution of the indicator.
Moreover, the paper lacks of clarity. See, for example: What does the acronym LI means? What the authors mean by optimization ? On what basis the LIRE can be considered as overall "low"?
The paper suggests that some Chinese provinces are "efficient" while others are not. Should "inefficient" provinces act to improve their environmental performance? Does it means that these provinces really have the possibility to do it? In which extent is it realistic to consider that each individual Chinese province has the power to change its environmental score? It may be useful to remind that there are national industrial and energy policies and "dirty" activities should locate somewhere, so it may be unrealistic to consider that all provinces can tend towards high environmental efficiency.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear
Congratulations on the work performed to incorporate my suggestions.
Now, I am satisfied with this version of the paper.
I wish you success.
