Comparing Law Enforcement Performance of Forest Stations at Pu Hu Nature Reserve, Vietnam

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript is a good start to understanding characteristics of law enforcement routes in relation to encounters with illegal activities (e.g., poaching), however the connection to and implications for sustainability is not clear. The co-authors need to make significant edits to the manuscript in order for this to be suitable for publication in MDPI Sustainability. I would be willing to continue to review this manuscript for continuous improvement after the authors have made the following TEN substantive edits as well as future minor line-number specific edits once the co-authors have added line numbers:

1) Please add line numbers so I can make line number specific edits.

2) The data presented in Figure 3 through Figure 10 are NOT clear. You need to specify exactly what the variable is for the y-axis and not in the caption at the bottom. You do not need a duplicate y-axis on the right. Instead please include a legend with the blue and orange color corresponding to Trung Thanh and Nam Tien.

3) Please add a blank row above and below each Figure and if added for Tables as well.

4) From a sustainability perspective, the key variable of interest (poaching/illegal encounters is not showcased well in your manuscript). Meaning the illegal encounters divided by characteristics of routes taken by law enforcement is not particularly well connected to sustainability nor provides insight into how sustainability can be improved in the future. Please do the following to address this:

a) Add more depth to the Introduction section on the economic, environmental, and community (i.e., sustainability) implications for poaching/illegal activities in Nature Reserves in Vietnam and anywhere else that is pertinent to your research.

b) From a statistical perspective, please set up a regression model where total illegal encounters is the dependent variable and you test all independent variables you analyze in Figures 3 through 10 with respect to how they influence illegal encounters. This would include time trend and you would test for and correct if necessary autocorrelation. Those results could be presented in ONE table and provide the reader with a clear understanding of your results as they pertain to sustainability (e.g., endangered species and ecosystem preservation) since you would statistically determine key factors that influence (or do not influence) illegal activities encountered by law enforcement (e.g., park rangers).

c) You also need to present a map showing density of illegal encounters in the study area as the last Figure presented. This mapping may provide insight in terms of where law enforcement needs to focus their efforts.

5) The last paragraph in the Introduction section is your methods and needs to be moved to Materials and Methods section.

6) Add a paragraph to the end of the Introduction section where you clearly state your research goals and objectives.

7) Please write a Discussion section that is separate from your conclusions which should have two sections:

a) Expand on the contrasts and linkages between your results and results of prior literature. Please expand the writing for this since you need to add more cited references.

b) Discuss major themes or limitations to the implications of your research results. While expanding this section, you need to focus on the major IMPLICATIONS of your research and have well-organized written discussion on these. Also please think about the major limitations to what is being proposed and include this in the writing and expansion of this part of the manuscript. 

8) Make sure the Conclusion section is no more than one to three paragraphs and wraps things up as a key summary of the study, results, and how future research can improve upon your work.

9) Increase the number of cited references to something around 50

10) The formatting for your references is not consistent with MDPI format. Please review their template on their website carefully.

Author Response

Dear Prof.

I would like to send you the revised manuscript. 

Thank you very much for your support!

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The abstract section is poor and should be different from the introduction section

English writing of this section requires further polish 

abstract should also cover the entire content of the paper and contain the main numerical data found in this study

 

the introduction section should be substantially improved while reducing first the length of the different sections and concentrating essentially on what is the limit of the previous studies (same topic) in different countries

 

Materials and methods: kindly improve the English language of this section

Results section should be substantially improved essentially regarding the English language and the structure of the different sections

 

Discussion and coclusion: consider the attached comments of this scetion highlighted in the attached file

References section: use MDPI Sustainability guideline for reference formatting

various comments are directly attached and many corrections and suggestions were made in the attached file and authors are recommended to consider all of these comments in order to improve the quality of the present study 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Prof.

I would like to re-submited the your comments again.

Actually, English language is re-checked 

Thank you very much for your support

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

See 30 comments in the file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Prof.

I would like to re-submit the your comment again.

English language is re-checked 

Thank you very much for your support

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript is a good start to understanding characteristics of law enforcement routes in relation to encounters with illegal activities (e.g., poaching), however the connection to and implications for sustainability is not clear. The co-authors need to make significant edits to the manuscript in order for this to be suitable for publication in MDPI Sustainability. I would be willing to continue to review this manuscript for continuous improvement after the authors have made the following SIX substantive edits as well as future minor line-number specific edits once the co-authors have added line numbers:

1) Please add a blank row above and below each Figure and if added for Tables as well.

2) From a sustainability perspective, the key variable of interest (poaching/illegal encounters is not showcased well in your manuscript). Meaning the illegal encounters divided by characteristics of routes taken by law enforcement is not particularly well connected to sustainability nor provides insight into how sustainability can be improved in the future. Please do the following to address this:

a) Add more depth to the Introduction section on the economic, environmental, and community (i.e., sustainability) implications for poaching/illegal activities in Nature Reserves in Vietnam and anywhere else that is pertinent to your research.

b) From a statistical perspective, please set up a regression model where total illegal encounters is the dependent variable and you test all independent variables you analyze in Figures 3 through 10 with respect to how they influence illegal encounters. This would include time trend and you would test for and correct if necessary autocorrelation. Those results could be presented in ONE table and provide the reader with a clear understanding of your results as they pertain to sustainability (e.g., endangered species and ecosystem preservation) since you would statistically determine key factors that influence (or do not influence) illegal activities encountered by law enforcement (e.g., park rangers).

c) You also need to present a map showing density of illegal encounters in the study area as the last Figure presented. This mapping may provide insight in terms of where law enforcement needs to focus their efforts.

3) The last paragraph in the Introduction section on L105-119 is your methods and needs to be moved to Materials and Methods section.

4) Add a paragraph to the end of the Introduction section after L119 where you clearly state your research goals and objectives.

5) Increase the number of cited references to something around 50

6) The formatting for your references is not consistent with MDPI format. Please review their template on their website carefully. For example, you have written:

D. Brockington and D. Wilkie, “Protected areas and poverty,” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci., vol. 370, p. 413 200120271, 2015, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0271.

The correct format for this is:

Brockington, D.; Wilkie, D. Protected areas and poverty. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 2015, 370(1681), 200120271. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0271

If you refer to the MDPI Sustainability Word template you will see:

References

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. We recommend preparing the references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote, ReferenceManager or Zotero to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references. Include the digital object identifier (DOI) for all references where available.

Citations and references in the Supplementary Materials are permitted provided that they also appear in the reference list here.

In the text, reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ] and placed before the punctuation; for example [1], [1–3] or [1,3]. For embedded citations in the text with pagination, use both parentheses and brackets to indicate the reference number and page numbers; for example [5] (p. 10), or [6] (pp. 101–105).

1.          Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D. Title of the article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year, Volume, page range.

2.          Author 1, A.; Author 2, B. Title of the chapter. In Book Title, 2nd ed.; Editor 1, A., Editor 2, B., Eds.; Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, 2007; Volume 3, pp. 154–196.

3.          Author 1, A.; Author 2, B. Book Title, 3rd ed.; Publisher: Publisher Location, Country, 2008; pp. 154–196.

4.          Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C. Title of Unpublished Work. Abbreviated Journal Name year, phrase indicating stage of publication (submitted; accepted; in press).

5.          Author 1, A.B. (University, City, State, Country); Author 2, C. (Institute, City, State, Country). Personal communication, 2012.

6.          Author 1, A.B.; Author 2, C.D.; Author 3, E.F. Title of Presentation. In Proceedings of the Name of the Conference, Location of Conference, Country, Date of Conference (Day Month Year).

7.          Author 1, A.B. Title of Thesis. Level of Thesis, Degree-Granting University, Location of University, Date of Completion.

8.          Title of Site. Available online: URL (accessed on Day Month Year).

Author Response

Dear Prof.

I would like to re-submit the manuscript

Thank you very much for your support

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I have noticed that authors have made a good work in editing the manuscript upon on the comments by both reviewers and Editors.

I recommend therefore the acceptance of this paper at this round of revision

Author Response

Dear Prof.

Thank you very much for your support!

 

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

This manuscript is a good start to understanding characteristics of law enforcement routes in relation to encounters with illegal activities (e.g., poaching). The co-authors need to make significant edits to the manuscript in order for this to be suitable for publication in MDPI Sustainability. I would be willing to continue to review this manuscript for continuous improvement after the authors have made the following FIVE substantive edits as well as future minor line-number specific edits once the co-authors have added line numbers:

1) From a sustainability perspective, the key variable of interest (poaching/illegal encounters is not showcased well in your manuscript). Meaning the illegal encounters divided by characteristics of routes taken by law enforcement is not particularly well connected to sustainability nor provides insight into how sustainability can be improved in the future. Please do the following to address this:

a) From a statistical perspective, please set up a regression model where total illegal encounters is the dependent variable and you test all independent variables you analyze in Figures 3 through 10 with respect to how they influence illegal encounters. This would include time trend and you would test for and correct if necessary autocorrelation. Those results could be presented in ONE table and provide the reader with a clear understanding of your results as they pertain to sustainability (e.g., endangered species and ecosystem preservation) since you would statistically determine key factors that influence (or do not influence) illegal activities encountered by law enforcement (e.g., park rangers).

b) You also need to present a map showing density of illegal encounters in the study area as the last Figure presented. This mapping may provide insight in terms of where law enforcement needs to focus their efforts.

2) Add a paragraph to the end of the Introduction section after L102 where you clearly state your research goals and objectives.

3) The background on the patrolling system should be its own section and on L103 titled “2. Background” and updated the numbers of all sections that follow.

4) The formatting for your references is still not consistent with MDPI format. There is no comma after the abbreviated journal name. The volume number (issue number) need to be in italics. So for example on L603 you have written “vol. 141, no. 1,” and this should be “141(1),” so please change this for all relevant references listed.

5) Make sure there are no blank rows between paragraphs. For example, delete the blank row on L174.

Author Response

Dear Prof.

I would like to submit the manuscript to you

Thank you very much for your support

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 4

Reviewer 1 Report

1) Make bold the background and make its own section onL120

2) Increase numbers of all sections/sub-sections after this by one

3) The 4 digit numbers do not need period nor comma via MDPI format requirements 

Author Response

Dear Prof.

I would like to resubmit the revised manuscript and your request as well

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf