Analyzing Express Revenue Spatial Association Network’s Characteristics and Effects: A Case Study of 31 Provinces in China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The express industry is an important part of the postal industry. It is a composite emerging service industry that integrates the functions of information exchange, goods delivery, capital circulation, etc. In recent years, China's economy has developed rapidly. The express industry has undertaken the important task of resource and information exchange between regions. As a cross regional industry closely linked with various industries, The spatial relationship and distribution of its production capacity can reflect the changes of China's macroeconomic pattern, so it is of great significance to study its spatial development network and its influencing factors.

(1) The introduction introduces the research status and background of the main theme of this study, states the spatial development pattern and differences of the express industry in China, and emphasizes the important social significance of the research object. However, the problem is that there is no specific description of the specific issues studied, but simply states the previous research methods and experience. It is suggested that the research methods and their relative innovation points be introduced at the same time.

(2) When explaining the data source, it is suggested to introduce the correlation between the data and the research object, indicating the significance and reason of selecting the data for research, and supplementing the initial logic of the complete research.

(3) When selecting variables, there is a lack of substantial analysis of the selected variables. It is suggested to supplement some relevant social reasons and data to prove the rationality and preciseness of the selection of the variables. It seems that the human capital investment variables need to be discussed. The express industry will also bring about an increase in the number of employees in its own development. Please explain whether there is a collinearity interference model between dependent variables and independent variables.

(4) In the final summary discussion, various data and indicators were introduced in detail. There was relatively little discussion and analysis on the data. In addition to explaining the data and its representative significance, it was suggested that the social causes of the influencing factors could be analyzed more deeply, as well as some suggestions for the future development of the express industry, so as to make the analysis more substantial.

Author Response

非常感谢您抽出宝贵的时间来审查我们的研究，并提出许多宝贵的修改建议。这些建议使我们受益匪浅，也给了我们很多关于本研究报告写作的思考。对于您的每个建议，我们都仔细修改了文章的相应部分。同时，我想上传一个word文档，逐点回复您的评论意见。

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Overall The paper presents the use of SNA to understand spatial-economical relations in the Express-delivery in China. The authors wish to use the data on provincial express revenue, to construct a spatial correlation network of provincial express revenue, and to use social network analysis to analyze its network characteristics and evolution rules.

Here are my main  notes:

1. In analyzing the network the authors explore two dimensions of the network - The node on the one hand and the entire network on the other. However, the "community level" is entirely forgotten. Communities are extremely important in network analysis and one shouldn't ignore them.

Hence, these crucial parts are missing in the paper:

The search for communities in the network

Analyzing the communities structure to understand the network

Using the communities to understand the role of nodes inside the communities (versus their role in the network)

Analyzing the relations inside the community and between communities

And connecting all these findings to the spatial and economic results.

The analysis of communities is crucial. It will shed new light on the results and might even change some of the conclusions.

2. Concerning hypothesis and research questions - I couldn't find a clear statement of the two. Please write them

3. The building of the network's links is a fundamental part of the paper, and it should be explained in more detail. 

Author Response

非常感谢您抽出宝贵时间审查本研究以及您非常重要的评论。我们非常重视您的每一条意见，并对稿件进行了一些修改。同时，我想上传一个word文档，逐点回复您的评论意见。

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The study the authors present in this manuscript is well structured and written, however, some aspects need to be improved before its publication.

(1) Given the aims of the journal, it is necessary to introduce, as early as in the abstract, the link between the topic discussed and the issues of sustainability (environmental, economic and social). These implications of the research are completely missing in the manuscript.

(2) The authors should even better highlight the innovative contribution of their research compared to the state of the art. This concept is hinted at in the text, but needs to be better developed by relating the gaps to the literature.

(3) Pay attention to the sub-section "2.4. Literature review" it has the same name as Section 2 and carries the same concepts. This is probably a typo.

(4) In section "3.Materials and Methods" the authors describe the analysis protocol, but not the methodological approach taken. This part needs improvement.

Author Response

作为本文的作者，我们感谢您抽出宝贵时间审查本研究报告并提供非常重要的评论。对于您的每一个建议，我们都仔细考虑了很多次，并仔细修改了文章的相应部分。同时，我想上传一个word文档，逐点回复您的评论意见。

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

After reviewing the needed changes, I find the paper suitable for publication 

Reviewer 3 Report

In this latest version, the authors have incorporated the reviewers' suggestions, so the manuscript is now fit for publication.