Earth Observation-Based Rice Mapping Studies in Vietnamese Mekong Delta Compared to Global Context: A Bibliometric Analysis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

One notable area for improvement is the structural organization of Table 2, which lacks clarity and requires further explanation. Grammatically, the entire article could benefit from a thorough revision to enhance coherence and precision.

In conclusion, the article effectively communicates the scope and findings of the study, emphasizing the critical role of EO-based rice mapping studies in addressing sustainability and food security challenges in the VMD. However, attention to structural and grammatical refinements will significantly enhance the overall quality of the manuscript.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

One notable area for improvement is the structural organization of Table 2, which lacks clarity and requires further explanation. Grammatically, the entire article could benefit from a thorough revision to enhance coherence and precision.

In conclusion, the article effectively communicates the scope and findings of the study, emphasizing the critical role of EO-based rice mapping studies in addressing sustainability and food security challenges in the VMD. However, attention to structural and grammatical refinements will significantly enhance the overall quality of the manuscript.

Author Response

Author's Reply to the Review Report (Reviewer 1)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

One notable area for improvement is the structural organization of Table 2, which lacks clarity and requires further explanation. Grammatically, the entire article could benefit from a thorough revision to enhance coherence and precision.

Response 1

Table 2 is self-explained, and the description of this table is provided in the manuscript lines 268-270. However, for better clarity, we have modified the table's header.

In conclusion, the article effectively communicates the scope and findings of the study, emphasizing the critical role of EO-based rice mapping studies in addressing sustainability and food security challenges in the VMD. However, attention to structural and grammatical refinements will significantly enhance the overall quality of the manuscript.

Response 2

Thank you for your encouraging comments, and we appreciate our work. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript to remove the grammatical errors and typos.

We can understand the importance of sustainability and food security in the current aspect of the manuscript. We added a sub-section (4. EO-based rice mapping and its linkages with SDGs and Food security) to it just before the conclusion. Please suggest if further modification is required.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

One notable area for improvement is the structural organization of Table 2, which lacks clarity and requires further explanation. Grammatically, the entire article could benefit from a thorough revision to enhance coherence and precision.

In conclusion, the article effectively communicates the scope and findings of the study, emphasizing the critical role of EO-based rice mapping studies in addressing sustainability and food security challenges in the VMD. However, attention to structural and grammatical refinements will significantly enhance the overall quality of the manuscript.

Response 3

Looks like the suggestions are repeated here. We request the reviewer to consider our earlier response to these comments, too. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper ‘EO-based Rice Mapping Studies in Vietnamese Mekong Delta Compared to Global Context: A Bibliometric Analysis’ provides an interesting study, however, it needs adjustments and formatting to be published. It is necessary to make this manuscript more concise and complete. There is a need for improvement in scientific writing, particularly as it adds to the subject area compared to other published material, and I have some additional comments that may help with these reviews.

- It is necessary to address the importance and context of the research at the beginning of the abstract. Justify the reason for this study (line 12).

- Present some numerical results in the abstract to support your conclusions (line 21 to 23).

- Do I need so many compound keywords? Check this question (line 26).

- Use Figure 2: and not Figure 2 or Figure 2: , for example. Review all figure and table titles.

- Also correct the designation of Figures and Tables, for example: Do not use ...accompanied by abundant sunshine. (Figure 1). Use ...accompanied by abundant sunshine (Figure 1).

- In the axis titles of Figures 3, 4, 7 and 8 and in Table 1 do not use No but Nº.

- Rename Figures 9A, 9B, and 9C into Figures 9, 10, and 11.

 So my recommendation was for 'Accept after minor revision’.

Author Response

Author's Reply to the Review Report (Reviewer 2)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper' EO-based Rice Mapping Studies in Vietnamese Mekong Delta Compared to Global Context: A Bibliometric Analysis' provides an interesting study, however, it needs adjustments and formatting to be published. It is necessary to make this manuscript more concise and complete. There is a need for improvement in scientific writing, particularly as it adds to the subject area compared to other published material, and I have some additional comments that may help with these reviews.

Response 1

Thank you for your comprehensive review. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript. No such published material that compromises EO-based rice mapping studies in Vietnam or the Southeast Asia region is available online. So, there is no scope to compare other studies. However, we have included the following paper in a global perspective close to our research. Please suggest more evidence if we missed anything.

Xu, T., Wang, F., Yi, Q., Xie, L., & Yao, X. (2022). A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis of Research Progress and Trends in Rice Remote Sensing over the Past 42 Years (1980–2021). Remote Sensing, 14(15), 3607.

- It is necessary to address the importance and context of the research at the beginning of the abstract. Justify the reason for this study (line 12).

Response 2

Thank you for your comment. We have included the suggestion in the track change mode.

Bibliometric study on mapping the rice cropping systems in VMD is crucial for understanding the trend of EO-based rice mapping and how remote sensing technologies is being essential to address the food security issue in the region. Line 12-13

- Present some numerical results in the abstract to support your conclusions (line 21 to 23).

Response 3

Thank you for your comment. We have incorporated the suggestion as suggested.

Optical images, particularly Landsat (~16%) and  MODIS (~12%) time series datasets were the most commonly utilized globally. MODIS data (~31%) had the highest share in the VMD context, followed by Landsat data (~19%), while Sentinel series (~13% for global and ~16 % for VMD) data became more popular in recent years. Lines 20-25

- Do I need so many compound keywords? Check this question (line 26).

Response 4

Thank you for your comment. We modified and reduced the number of keywords as suggested.

- Use Figure 2: and not Figure 2 or Figure 2: , for example. Review all figures and table titles.

Response 5

Thank you for your comment. We have included the suggestion in the track change mode for your convenience.

- Also correct the designation of Figures and Tables, for example: Do not use ...accompanied by abundant sunshine. (Figure 1). Use ...accompanied by abundant sunshine (Figure 1).

Response 6

Thank you for your comment. We have included the suggestion in the revised manuscript.

- In the axis titles of Figures 3, 4, 7 and 8 and in Table 1 do not use No but Nº.

Response 7

Thank you for your comment. We modified the axis title.

- Rename Figures 9A, 9B, and 9C into Figures 9, 10, and 11.

Response 8

Thank you for your comment. We have included the suggestion in the track change mode for the reviewer's convenience.

 So my recommendation was for 'Accept after minor revision'.

Response 9

Thank you for your encouraging comments and recommendation of our work. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript to make the necessary corrections recommended by the reviewer.

Hope the modifications will satisfy the reviewer towards the acceptance of the manuscript in Sustainability

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a carefully done study and the findings are of considerable interest. And a few minor revisions are list below:

1. In line 87, there is a "1."  but there is no follow up.

2.The third chapter of the paper “3.4. Publication outlets and citation” mainly investigate the citation of the paper, and perhaps the relevant content about the overall situation of the journal in which the paper is published can be added to better support the research.

3. In “3.5 Co-occurrence and connectivity analysis”, line 410, "There are seven main clusters representing seven different sub-areas of rice research", the seven subfields of rice research that could perhaps be briefly described.

4. It is recommended that a summary and more specific evaluation of keywords be added to “3.5 Co-occurrence and connectivity analysis” to better reflect the contribution of keyword co-occurrence and connectivity studies to rice mapping research in the VDM.

5. In “4. Conclusions”, It is proposed to improve some analysis about current problems and give some suggestions for the future of the EO-based Rice Mapping Studies in Vietnamese Mekong Delta.

Author Response

Author's Reply to the Review Report (Reviewer 3)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a carefully done study and the findings are of considerable interest. And a few minor revisions are list below:

Response 1

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript.

1. In line 87, there is a "1."  but there is no follow up.

Response 2

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript. The 1 pointed out in the comment was a typo and it is modified in track change mode.

2. The third chapter of the paper "3.4. Publication outlets and citation" mainly investigate the citation of the paper, and perhaps the relevant content about the overall situation of the journal in which the paper is published can be added to better support the research.

Response 3

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript and added the revisions as per the suggestions in track change mode.

Several highly cited articles have been identified, such as "Spatiotemporal characteristics, patterns, and causes of land-use changes in China since the late 1980s" (Liu et al., 2004) and "Mapping paddy rice agriculture in southern China using multi-temporal MODIS images" (Xiao et al., 2005). The top-cited articles specific to the VMD area include works by Sakamoto et al. (2006), Kuenzer and Knauer (2013), Kontgis et al. (2015), and Nguyen et al. (2012). The journals "Remote Sensing of Environment" and the "International Journal of Remote Sensing" have the highest citations in this research field.

3. In "3.5 Co-occurrence and connectivity analysis", line 410, "There are seven main clusters representing seven different sub-areas of rice research", the seven subfields of rice research that could perhaps be briefly described.

Response 4

Thank you for your comments. We have modified the manuscript and added a few lines in track change mode to address the comment in section 3.5

4. It is recommended that a summary and more specific evaluation of keywords be added to "3.5 Co-occurrence and connectivity analysis" to better reflect the contribution of keyword co-occurrence and connectivity studies to rice mapping research in the VDM.

Response 5

Thank you for your comments. We have modified the manuscript and added a few lines in track change mode to address the comment in section 3.5

5. In "4. Conclusions", It is proposed to improve some analysis about current problems and give some suggestions for the future of the EO-based Rice Mapping Studies in Vietnamese Mekong Delta.

Response 6

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript and added the revisions as per the suggestions in track change mode.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper summarizes the data and methods of 3700 rice mapping literature worldwide since 1979, and compares them with the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The article conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis and revealed the role of EO based rice mapping research in Vietnamese Mekong Delta compared to global research. The conclusion of the paper clarifies the significant contribution of these studies to the sustainability and food security of the region.

Modification suggestions

1）For future rice mapping research in Vietnamese Mekong Delta, it is recommended that the author summarize and organize the content in a separate section, rather than describing it separately in each section.

2）Compared with the existing research, the progressiveness and significance of this paper still need to be explained in detail.

Author Response

Author's Reply to the Review Report (Reviewer 4)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper summarizes the data and methods of 3700 rice mapping literature worldwide since 1979, and compares them with the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. The article conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis and revealed the role of EO based rice mapping research in Vietnamese Mekong Delta compared to global research. The conclusion of the paper clarifies the significant contribution of these studies to the sustainability and food security of the region.

Modification suggestions

1）For future rice mapping research in Vietnamese Mekong Delta, it is recommended that the author summarize and organize the content in a separate section, rather than describing it separately in each section.

Response 1

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript in tract change mode wherever required and modified the conclusion part to give an overall understanding. 

2）Compared with the existing research, the progressiveness and significance of this paper still need to be explained in detail.

Response 2

Thank you for your comprehensive review. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the abstract, introduction and conclusion to emphasize the significance of this manuscript. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 5 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

Your review manuscript is dealing with the issues related to the rice mapping studies. This review observing situation in Vietnamese Mekong delta and compare situation in this region with the situation in the world. Manuscript covers a lot of references from this field but some correction must be conducted.

Please find my suggestions below.

In the introduction briefly highlight nutritional significance of rice. Highlight which nutriments from rice are important for balanced nutrition?

Are climate conditions same in all parts of world where is possible to grow rice? Highlight in introduction climate conditions in different parts of the world which are important for rice growing.

Briefly highlight in introduction agro-technical approach which is applied during the rice growing. Is this approach differs in other parts of the world?

Highlight in subsection 2.1. which agro-technical approaches are applied for rice growing in Vietnam.

Conclusion is too long. Make it more direct. Do not repeat parts which are already mentioned in the results and discussion.

Wish you all the best in future work,

Author Response

Author's Reply to the Review Report (Reviewer 5)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

Your review manuscript is dealing with the issues related to the rice mapping studies. This review observing situation in Vietnamese Mekong delta and compare situation in this region with the situation in the world. Manuscript covers a lot of references from this field but some correction must be conducted.

Response 1

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly reviewed and modified the manuscript.

Please find my suggestions below.

In the introduction briefly highlight nutritional significance of rice. Highlight which nutriments from rice are important for balanced nutrition?

Response 2

Thank you for your comments. The scope of our work is not directly connected with the nutritional significance of rice rather it tried to focus on the pattern and evolution of rice mapping using earth observation data. However, we have included briefly the nutrition part in Line 47-49.

Are climate conditions same in all parts of world where is possible to grow rice? Highlight in introduction climate conditions in different parts of the world which are important for rice growing.

Response 3

Thank you for your comments. The scope of our work is to focus on the pattern, and evolution of rice mapping using earth observation data. We have addressed the comments in a few lines.

Countries that produce and consume rice testifies to the fact that rice is grown in a range of habitats, from tropical to temperate, with varying water regimes and topographic circumstances. From the driest deserts to the world's most humid locations, rice is produced everywhere. It happens at Al Hasa Oasis, Saudi Arabia, where annual rainfall is less than 100 mm, and along the Arakan coast in Myanmar, where the growing season has an average of more than 5100 mm of rainfall. They are considerably different in temperature such as  in Otaru, Japan, which averages 17 °C, whereas the Upper Sind region of Pakistan that experiences 33 °C (Gadal et al 2019). Line 38-45

Briefly highlight in introduction the agro-technical approach which is applied during the rice growing. Is this approach differs in other parts of the world?

Highlight in subsection 2.1. which agro-technical approaches are applied for rice growing in Vietnam.

Response 4

Thank you for your comments. The scope of our work is to focus on the pattern and evolution of rice mapping using earth observation data. As this is out of context, we are unable to include this aspect in the current manuscript. We humbly request you to consider our submission.

Conclusion is too long. Make it more direct. Do not repeat parts which are already mentioned in the results and discussion.

Response 5

Thank you for your comments and appreciation of our work. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript with the revisions in track change mode.

Wish you all the best in future work,

Response 6

Thank you for your encouraging comments and appreciate our work. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript.

Hope the modifications will satisfy the reviewer towards the acceptance of the manuscript in Sustainability

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 6 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The present article summarizes Earth Observation (EO)-based rice mapping strategies 12 since 1979, with a focus on data, methodologies, and methods. The authors have excellent knowledge of the topic. However, some revisions are necessary before recommending the article for publication.

(1)   The author(s) mentioned in the abstract, page 11, and conclusion section, and I quote “The top three approaches or methods used for global rice mapping are random forest, support vector machine, and time series analysis…."

It will be more interesting if more background information can be given to explain the methods in full. By this, readers, especially those not in the field, can have a better understanding of the methods.

(2)   There are some typo errors in the manuscript, the authors should check carefully and correct all the errors to meet the journal standard.

(3)   The present study utilized rice as the focus raw material. A check on the following relevant papers will be useful in the present manuscript. They can be of use in the background study in the revised version.

(a)   Fuel Developed from Rice Bran Briquettes and Palm Kernel Shells, International Journal of Energy Engineering 5: 9 – 15, 10.5963/IJEE0501002

(b)   Burning Rate of Briquettes Produced from Rice Bran and Palm Kernel Shells, International Journal of Material Science Innovations 3: 68-73, https://www.htpub.org/article/International-Journal-Of-Material-Science-Innovations/vol/3/issue/2/articleid/758

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

Author's Reply to the Review Report (Reviewer 6)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The present article summarizes Earth Observation (EO)-based rice mapping strategies 12 since 1979, with a focus on data, methodologies, and methods. The authors have excellent knowledge of the topic. However, some revisions are necessary before recommending the article for publication.

Response 1

Thank you for your comments and appreciation of our work. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript with the revisions in track change mode and removed the grammatical errors and typos in track change mode.

(1)   The author(s) mentioned in the abstract, page 11, and conclusion section, and I quote "The top three approaches or methods used for global rice mapping are random forest, support vector machine, and time series analysis…."

It will be more interesting if more background information can be given to explain the methods in full. By this, readers, especially those not in the field, can have a better understanding of the methods.

Response 2

Thank you for your comments. The approaches used are widely applied in the field of studies using remote sensing data. Citations for each of the approaches have been included in the manuscript for readers who are interested to know more about the methods. If more background explanation is required, please suggest.

Several approaches, such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) (Xu et al., 2018), Random Forest (RF) (Cia et al., 2019; Ghosh et al., 2022), Time series analysis (Park et al., 2018; Maiti et al., 2022), and phenological indices (Ni et al., 2021), have been developed to map rice-producing regions worldwide. (lines 264-267)

Machine learning Algorithms (Zhang et al., 2020)

(2)   There are some typo errors in the manuscript, the authors should check carefully and correct all the errors to meet the journal standard.

Response 3

Thank you for your comments. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript to remove the grammatical errors and typos.

(3)   The present study utilized rice as the focus raw material. A check on the following relevant papers will be useful in the present manuscript. They can be of use in the background study in the revised version.

(a)   Fuel Developed from Rice Bran Briquettes and Palm Kernel Shells, International Journal of Energy Engineering 5: 9 – 15, 10.5963/IJEE0501002

(b)   Burning Rate of Briquettes Produced from Rice Bran and Palm Kernel Shells, International Journal of Material Science Innovations 3: 68-73, https://www.htpub.org/article/International-Journal-Of-Material-Science-Innovations/vol/3/issue/2/articleid/758

Response 4

Thank you for your comprehensive reviews and suggestions. The manuscript focused on the various remote sensing methods and satellite data used in rice mapping studies. We have thoroughly read the paper and found that the suggested paper focused on rice and its products as raw materials which are not relevant to the scope of the study and cannot be included it in the current manuscript. Thus, we humbly request you to consider our submission.    

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required.

Response 5

Thank you for your encouraging comments and appreciate our work. We have thoroughly refined the manuscript to remove the grammatical errors and typos.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 5 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors, 

Thank you very much fro revised version of manuscript, it is fine for me. 

Wish you all the best in future work, 

Reviewer 6 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Accept.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

fine