Quality of Life as a Limiting Factor in the Development of the Region along the Great Bačka Canal (Serbia)
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe study presented has very interesting information, which can be appreciated by many research readers. However, reading it generates confusion when seeking to understand, so a reflective and analytical reading is suggested to reformulate the presentation of the article in general.
As reviewed in the study, it refers to two variables: the perception of quality of life based on certain sociodemographic factors. It is suggested to reformulate the title so that it is in accordance with the two variables mentioned and the meaning of the research is understood. In this way, the internal coherence that will be reflected in the manuscript begins to be declared, helping readers to be clear about what has been sought.
When analyzing the work:
OBJECTIVE AND HYPOTHESIS
According to what was presented: “The objective of this study was to identify the factors that influence citizens' perceptions of the quality of life in the settlements of the middle Bačka region, in order to define measures that could be used to improve the quality of life and stimulate citizens. “not to emigrate from their local environment, thus reducing depopulation and creating the conditions for sustainable development.”
And the hypothesis says: “The population settled in the central region of Bačka is not satisfied with the quality of life in their settlements and that there is a statistically significant difference in the attitudes of the respondents in relation to basic services. elements of their standard of living based on their sociodemographic characteristics.”
An inconsistency is identified between what the objective pursues and what the hypothesis seeks. While the objective refers to 'identify' and 'propose', in the hypothesis it says 'describe' and 'compare'. According to the methodological theory, the objectives and hypotheses must contain the same elements of analysis.
It is suggested to review the title, restate the problem, restate the objective and hypothesis, to give the work the internal coherence necessary to understand the author's approach.
Consider that, the hypothesis presented in section 4.1. of the work: “The initial hypothesis of this study is that gender, age, profession, level of education, monthly income and number of household members have a significant impact on attitudes regarding quality of life”, is more appropriate, so its use is recommended when stating the hypotheses from the beginning.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
According to the Sustainability journal's outline, materials and methods must be described in sufficient detail to allow others to replicate and build on the published results.
What is proposed in the manuscript includes a lot of additional information than what was requested, which could perhaps be summarized. Furthermore, an effort must be made to clearly state the type of research, design, instruments, procedures and statistical analysis that, in a manner consistent with the title, objective and hypothesis, allows the reader to form the idea of what was done. This is the part of the work that allows evaluating its replicability.
This work is not a case study. For this reason, it is suggested that this name be removed from the entire document.
Regarding the INSTRUMENT, the present research is constituted as a quantitative study. An effort has been made to “assemble” a survey that has not had a psychometric process. This could contribute to the scientific foundation of the work. Two things are suggested:
to. Evaluate the survey by “judge criteria” to give some support to it.
b. Declare that the instrument could have two parts, the first containing the sociodemographic data and the second the survey itself on the perception of quality of life. This will clarify where the information presented on this topic came from.
RESULTS
Present them in accordance with the new new approach of title, objective, hypothesis, etc.
DISCUSSION
It is suggested to reformulate the discussion in light of what was previously stated and, as will be read later, integrating updated information from indexed journals.
REFERENCES
Although the article presents 72 references, only 4 of them (approximately 5.6%) from the last 5 years are identified. Furthermore, all 4 are not necessarily located in indexed publications. The suggestion is 40% of references should come from indexed journals.
Significantly increase the number of references obtained from indexed databases (Scopus and WoS) in the last 5 years, to provide scientific support to the manuscript.
Carry out an exhaustive review of the presentation of each reference, integrating the necessary elements (DOI preferably) to better evaluate the proposal.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis is an interesting study, exploring the factors which impact the perceptions of citizens regarding the quality of life in the settlements of five municipalities in Servia.
The Introduction is well-crafted and grounded in theory. The literature review is comprehensive, offering a thorough overview of existing research in the field. The chosen methods are appropriate, but there is a lack of theoretical background for the selected questionnaire statements. While the results are effectively presented, the discussion needs improvement as it falls short in thoroughly addressing the analysis results and interpreting the study's findings. Furthermore, certain structural adjustments are required. For detailed comments and suggestions, please refer to the attached file.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Moderate editing of English language required.
Author Response
Please see the attacment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe proclaimed aim of the article is to publish the results of a questionnaire survey concerning the rural region in Baška, Serbia. I am afraid that it is a rather unambitious goal that may not be interesting to an international audience. It would be necessary to extend the objective to the question of the analysis of the quality of life in the rural region, the methodology of its analysis and its context.
The authors try to relate the quality of life to depopulation.. In the theoretical part, the authors argue for the depopulation of rural regions without substantiating these ideas, either in general or specifically on the example of Serbia, Vojvodina, Baška or the studied region. On line 38, they talk about the transition from a traditional agrarian to a modern industrial and tertiary society. But here they are mixing two different transformations. The first of them (the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society) is characterized by industrialization, urbanization, the first demographic revolution and intense nationalism. In the Balkans, it may be the beginning of the 20th century. The second transition is the transformation from a productive to a post-productive society, which is characterized by the shift of employment opportunities from production to services, the transition to a consumer lifestyle, the second demographic transition and an orientation towards individual human rights. Serbia is apparently in this transformation right now.
I am afraid that authors are subject to common myths, which are tied to past trends. One cannot agree with the thesis that the causes of migration have not changed significantly in 150 years. Quite the contrary: while for the industrial epoch, the primary migration is for work, for the post-industrial period we are dealing with different, often conflicting reasons and directions of migration. As the authors themselves point out below, young and educated people do not migrate from rural areas generally for work, but for more prestigious and better-paid job opportunities as well as a richer social life. On the contrary, many people from cities head to the countryside for a less hectic environment, closeness to nature and a cheaper life. Is the countryside of the surveyed area really affected by depopulation? For example, in Czechia, since 1994, the countryside has been gradually increasing the number and share of inhabitants at the expense of medium-sized cities, which have lost industry, but do not have sufficient potential for the development of quaternary functions. Is the countryside of Baška really affected by extreme aging? In many countries, large cities are among the oldest municipalities.
The only dynamic indicator of population development mentioned by authors, was a comparison of the number of inhabitants in 1981 and now. But during these 40 years, Serbia was affected by a significant decrease in fertility to today's level of 1.63, which is caused by the second demographic transition and has nothing to do with the depopulation of the countryside as a result of changes in the quality of life. In the 1990s, Serbia was the largest source country of refugees in Europe. This had to be reflected in the depopulation of the studied area. What is the current development? How do natural movement and migration play a part in it? Unemployment is also argued without indicating its state and development. Additionally, how many people are engaged in agriculture in the countryside of Baška? In European countries, it is rather only units of percent. Data to document said processes and states certainly exists.
The authors indicate that the monitored region as a part of the Pannon lowland, has favorable conditions for agriculture. These old agricultural regions have similar problems to old industrial regions: they require restructuring as agriculture is no longer the main source of wealth or employment. Therefore, it is necessary to consider in the discussion which direction the restructuring should take. It should probably go to the services or handicrafts; the question is which ones. It is possible that depopulation from fertile agricultural regions merely offsets the need for people to change the economic structure and the territory will reach a new level of population stability more or less automatically. However, this does not mean that local stakeholders should give up on improving the quality of life. It should grow regardless of demographic developments.
On the line 177 should be Island or Iceland? On the line 298, what is meant by the constant decrease in the standard of living? The authors use the words village, town, municipality. However, village and town refer to objective physical structures, while a municipality is a legal corporation. A lot of information is repeated in the article, sometimes more than once. An extreme case is on line 408, where the same information is given twice.
The authors conducted a relatively extensive investigation, focused on the quality of life of a selected rural area in Baška. The results, processed using statistical methods, are certainly valuable. However, the connection with depopulation seems somewhat unfortunate, as only one question in the questionnaire refers to it. I propose to either leave the depopulation issues and focus more on the quality of life issues or supplement the facts about possible depopulation with hard data. The third option is to use migration data as one of the quality of life indicators. It can be assumed that people generally move from places with a lower quality of life to places with a higher quality of life. Of course, each individual imagines something different under the quality of life. That is why reverse migration also occurs. Of course, even this indicator cannot be absolute. Many people are dissatisfied with their quality of life, think about emigrating, but never decide to do so.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThere is a substantial improvement in the manuscript. Thank you for your contribution to science.
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsI want to thank you for the time and effort you put in revising the manuscript, as well as for providing detailed responses to my comments and suggestions. I consider the revised manuscript as suitable for publication.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor editing of English language required
