Analysis on the Mechanism and Influencing Factors of the Coordinated Development of Economy and Environment in China’s Resource-Based Cities
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper entitled "Analysis on the Mechanism and Influencing Factors of the Co-ordinated Development of Economy and Environment in China's Resource-based Cities" is an authentic piece of research based on secondary statistical data for resource-based cities in China, included in an econometric regression calculation model, stemming from entropy model constructed around a number of economic and environmental indicators which are presented as an answer to a more theoretical logistic model for the degree of coupling coordination between economy and environment. The emphasis on resource-based cities in China is arguemented by their fundamental role for the national economy but at the same time for their contribution to many regional environmental critical states.
The article tries to develop both theoretical and practical empirical based content and thus takes on a high challenge. Three main deficiencies hold its potential:
- The poor Еnglish language which makes difficult the understanding of many sentences and paragraphs throughout the hole work
- The missing explanations about the links between the three models mentioned and elaborated to some degree in the methodological and results parts.
- The poor visualization, which has to go beyond the tables format and to include graphical elements for the empirical sample of 109 cities, both statistically and geographically.
In terms of theoretical background and empirical research there is good coverage of sources spanning almost a century, including more recent ones. Because of the theoretical developments and contributions it is important for the authors to try to furthermore situate the chosen methods and the proposed modifications in the context of economic models borrowed from ecology and for instance the debate around the Lotka-Volterra equations versus the Arditi–Ginzburg equations. The entropy method choice for evaluation should also be further explained in the wider context.
The research has stated only one hypothesis although there is a plural form found. The link between the theoretical and more applied part should be better clarified as the two parts seem somehow detached.
The discussion of findings is hindered by the plenty of incomplete sentences and not so appropriate wording (translation) of some phrases, maybe from other original text in the native language of the work. One of the major terms used - carrying capacity should be very carefully considered as primary meaning which in my opinion differs greatly from what is proposed as list of environmental indicators here (more oriented to state of environmental components and factors of environmental management than carrying capacity of the so called sinks, ecosystem types or natural spheres)
The empirical results are far from being well presented and illustrated, even the lack of easy identification of the indicators and especially of the entities (cities) analyzed makes it impossible to consider the relevance of the presented results.
There is a numbering issue with the references from the beginning of the list.
The consluions do not sound hihgly influental mostly because of the need for better expression in English but also due to the need for better coherence in methodological terms as explained above and thanks to the feedback which the empirical work can provide to the theoretical base.
More specific comments are made available in the pdf attached here.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
I have only few concerns about this paper.
Firstly, I would suggest that authors expand literature review (section 2), adding further references and providing further details about previous studies.
Secondly, authors should discuss limitations of their study, present further streams of research and add implications to practice (particularly, in terms of policy development).
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Authors,
The article “Analysis on the Mechanism and Influencing Factors of the Coordinated Development of Economy and Environment in China's Resource-based Cities” studies the status quo of resource-based city economy and environmental development, the mechanism of coordinated development of resource-based city economy and environment, and various influencing factors.
The following conclusions are obtained:
(1) The environmental carrying capacity of resource-based cities is at a medium level, among which water and land resources are relatively poor. Most resource-based cities have only just reached the medium carrying capacity level. Resource-based cities of different development types do not show obvious differences in environmental carrying capacity, and are basically at the same carrying capacity level. However, from a numerical comparison, there is a shift from growth-oriented resource-based cities to mature, declining, and regenerated the trend of gradual decline.
(2) The level of economic strength of resource-based cities is constantly improving, but fluctuating. Affected by the dominance of resource-based industries, the overall economic strength of resource-based cities in my country is at a medium-to-high level, the economic conditions of resource-based cities are relatively good, and the overall difference between resource-based cities in various regions of my country is not large, indicating that my country’s resources There are common development characteristics in the economy of large-scale cities.
(3) The factors affecting the coordinated development of economy and environment in resource-based cities are dense and obvious. The research results confirmed that indicators such as urban GDP, investment in fixed assets, and per capita solid waste discharge have played an important role in the coordinated development of resource-based cities' economy and environment.
In general, the article has an interesting topic and a sufficient degree of novelty for publication in a scientific journal. An adequate methodology is used for the research. The structure and content correspond to the requirements of the journal. The research problem is clearly defined in the article.
Data selection criteria, theoretical base, and research methods were selected adequately. Consistency is visible between the main purpose, title, and content of the article. Correct terminology, the accuracy of references, articles from reputable journals are used in the article.
Remarks:
(1) I would like to suggest reading the paper entitled “Social Safety of Society for Developing Countries to Meet Sustainable Development Standards: Indicators, Level, Strategic Benchmarks (with Calculations Based on the Case Study of Ukraine)” related to sustainable development standards (Kharazishvili Y, Kwilinski A, Grishnova O, Dzwigol H. Social Safety of Society for Developing Countries to Meet Sustainable Development Standards: Indicators, Level, Strategic Benchmarks (with Calculations Based on the Case Study of Ukraine). Sustainability. 2020; 12(21):8953. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218953). Maybe you can use the described methodology for the section “discussion” of your research.
(2) The “conclusions" require some editing in summarising the prospects for further research on the basis of the study carried out by the authors.
After corrections, the article can be recommended for publication.
Best wishes,
The reviewer
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have addressed the comments and have managed to explain the research better.
One more editing of phrasing with several english language improvements and also shortening of some of the new paragraphs through better synthesis would make the article better readable.
The carrying capacity concept is still not that well linked to the available indicators so it is in the interest of the authors to explain clearly that most of the environmental indicators are proxies as they strees on the emissions but not the capacity of the specific environment in and around the resource based cities to mediate that pollution which can be very different due to varying conditions and activities.
Author Response
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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
