A Review of Contemporary Governance Challenges in Oman: Can Blockchain Technology Be Part of Sustainable Solutions?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. The main question of the study is to identify the most relevant directions for the implementation of blockchain technology in Oman, to identify possible difficulties and risks associated with this.

2. The article is interesting and relevant, as it raises problems that are characteristic not only for Oman, but also for other states. The aspects of the application of blockchain technology in various areas of public administration, organization of life of the population are considered.

3. The study adds to the subject area the specification of the features of the use of blockchain in a rentier country with strict centralization. Questions are raised about the influence of blockchain on the structure of the state system.

4. There is a remark regarding the presentation of the material. The text contains references to figures, but the figures themselves are not presented, which makes it difficult to read the material.

5. In terms of methodology, the authors could improve the following. It is not indicated how the choice of the analyzed media from which the news stories were taken was carried out. Is it state, or regional, or local media? Why were they analyzed? Numerical characteristics that determine the choice of directions for the implementation of the blockchain are not given. It would be rational to give values ​​according to the quantitative distribution of the studied articles by topic.

6. The technical feasibility of implementing the blockchain in the considered areas of government was not evaluated. What will be required for this?

7. Conclusions can be improved. They should be structured according to the results obtained.

8. Links are relevant.

9. After the correction of the comments, the article can be recommended for publication.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their thorough and insightful feedback on our paper. Please kindly check the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Authors in this work used exploratory sequential mixed methods to identify key governance problems in contemporary Oman and analyzed problems against evidence drawn from the relevant parts of the blockchain and e-governance literature to evaluate the potential utility, risks and limitations associated with adopting blockchained e-governance solutions in the Sultanate. The work is interesting and can be accepted for publication after incorporating the following changes.

Problem statement is not properly explained in the introduction section. Also, the motivation is not clearly presented.

Very limited discussion on Blockchain and its role in e-governance is seen in section 1.

Section 2 must be literature review (related work). Authors must discuss recent advancements in the field in this section.

Emergence and Working of blockchain is not properly explained. The following works can be helpful. Untangling blockchain technology: A survey on state of the art, security threats, privacy services, applications and future research directions; Blockchain for smart cities: A review of architectures, integration trends and future research directions; Secure access control for manufacturing sector with application of ethereum blockchain.

What difficult decisions authors are talking about in the below lines. “In recent years decreased oil revenues and rising unemployment has forced Omani 239 policymakers to make difficult decisions about how to overcome challenging economic 240 and socio-political issues.”.

The most recent blockchain based solutions must be discussed in the manuscript to enhance the overall quality.

Authors must add some relevant future research directions to give further research in the area.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their thorough and insightful feedback on our paper. Please kindly check the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The article emphasizes blockchain technology for improving e- governance mechanisms and solving long-standing governance issues in Oman. While the focus on such technology is timely, the article does not provide a comprehensive and balanced assessment of the advantages and shortcomings.

- The methodology is weak and biased as it is unclear why only local government-favored media reports were chosen for review?

- Interviewing one government representative might not be enough to come to a sound conclusion about the state-of-the-art.

- The article describes or assumes positive dimensions and effects of the technology but fails to underline what roadblocks or future challenges may arise from such tech adoption. 

- The authors need to provide a global literature review at the outset to inform what other regions are doing and how the technology is used to improve governance to justify some claims made in the later stage.

- A discussion section is required to bring everything together to summarize what are the key findings and how the paper advances literature/knowledge.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for their thorough and insightful feedback on our paper. Please kindly check the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 3 Report

The author/(s) made a sincere effort to revise the paper. However, I would reject the paper unless the following issues are addressed:

- The title is unnecessarily lengthy and confusing. It has to be shortened to convey the central focus clearly. 

- Introduction and literature review improved from the last version but it still needs to engage with relevant literature around e-governance, and smart city governance more directly. The authors might like to consider reviewing the following papers to improve and strengthen arguments in these sections focusing more on developing global south region:

. Towards the Right Model of Smart City Governance in India. Int. J. Sus. Dev. Plann, WIT Press, UK. Volume 13, No 2, Pages 171-186. 10.2495/SDP-V13-N2-171-186

. Innovative civic engagement and digital urban infrastructure: Lessons from 100 Smart Cities Mission in India. Procedia Engineering, Volume 180, Pages 1423-1432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.04.305 

. A survey of blockchain technology applied to smart cities: Research issues and challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 21(3), 2794-2830.

- The methodology is still not convincing and the sampling appears to be biased. A dataset of 450 Times of Oman news articles is not enough. Just focusing on one source for review would not lead to the generalization of findings to be helpful in policymaking in a different context. Expanding the sampling sources will strengthen the paper.

- To bring together the Oman Government Perspective in a stronger and more trustworthy manner, you need to survey more people across agencies. 

- The article needs a discussion towards the end summarizing key findings.

Author Response

"Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 3 Report

The author has incorporated most of the comments, and I am satisfied with the responses. I recommend publication.