Comprehensive Evaluation of the High-Quality Development of the Ecological and Economic Belt along the Yellow River in Ningxia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The measurement of high-quality economic development and regional research plays a crucial role in achieving ecologically-led high-quality development. This paper aims to establish a comprehensive evaluation index system for the quality level of development in Ningxia's yellow ecological economic zone, focusing on five dimensions: innovation, coordination, green practices, openness, and sharing. By employing factor analysis, the study estimates the level of high-quality development along the Yellow River Ecological Economic Belt in Ningxia for the year 2020. A multi-index panel data factor analysis and entropy weight TOPSIS method are employed to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of high-quality development across ten counties from 2014 to 2020. Empirical findings reveal that, in 2020, the overall level of high-quality development in the region remains relatively low. Among the contributing factors, shared and coordinated development demonstrate the highest impact on high-quality development, while open, green, and innovative development shows limited influence. The study also identifies significant spatial heterogeneity in the quality of high-quality development along Ningxia's Yellow River Ecological Economic Belt. Through cluster analysis, the regions along the Yellow Ecological Economic Belt in Ningxia are classified into categories of high, medium, and low levels of quality development. Over the period from 2014 to 2020, each county exhibits a steady increase in high-quality development, while the differences in development levels among the ten counties gradually diminish. Based on these findings, practical suggestions are provided to guide Ningxia in leading the path of high-quality development through ecological civilization construction along the Yellow River ecological economy.

It is essential to make significant improvements to the English writing in this text. Numerous sentences are poorly constructed, leading to difficulties in understanding and following the content. Addressing these issues is crucial for enhancing clarity and coherence in the text.

Page 1: Could you provide a definition of ecological civilization? I would like to understand your perspective on the concept.

Page 2: The statement claiming the absence of a unified standard in the academic community concerning the essence and connotation of economic development quality is debatable. It is important to note that existing literature on sustainable development provides valuable insights into this topic, which should be taken into account. See for example: Lozano, R. (2008). Envisioning sustainability three-dimensionally. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16, 1838– 1846; Dragicevic, A. Z. (2018). Deconstructing sustainability. Sustainable Development, 26, 525-532.

Pages 2 and 3: Using the term "green" as a dimension may not be appropriate. It is recommended to rephrase or provide further clarification to accurately represent the intended meaning.

Page 4: “The evaluation indicators of this paper mainly draw on Ren et al.'s research on the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin [22]” Please explain your contribution with respect to this reference.

Page 4: How do you decide on the indicator attribute? Please explain.

Page 18: In the discussion, there is mention of "strong spatial heterogeneity" alongside references to a "steady upward trend" and a "decreased difference." This implies that while there is progress and improvement occurring, it may be relatively minor or insignificant in terms of overall impact.

Page 18-19: It is crucial to delve deeper into the reasons behind the observed low level of high-quality development. A more comprehensive discussion is required to provide a thorough understanding of the underlying factors contributing to this situation.

Pages 20-21: May I request academic references that support the information you have provided?

The quality of the English language needs to be improved.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Please see attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attactment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This study constructs an evaluation index system for high-quality economic development along Ningxia's Yellow River ecological economic belt from five dimensions of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing. The topic is valuable, however, there are the following concerns:

-          In the introduction section, the research questions and contributions should be added.

-          I cannot see any section as literutre review. I am informed that the authors combined the literature review and introduction, but it needs improvement and is not enough for a research paper.

-          I cannot find any references in section “2.4.4. Entropy weight TOPSIS method” Please mention the related references.

-          In Section 2.4.4, please discuss the recent development of the MCDM context, such as ordinal priority approach (OPA), robust OPA, DEA-OPA, ensemble ranking using OPA, etc., which can be found here: https://ordinalpriorityapproach.com/index.php?s=2-opa-papers.

-          There is no comparative analysis in this study, and the reliability of the results are unclear. The authors should justify.

-          The limitations of the study should be mentioned in the conclusion section clearly.

Author Response

请参阅附件。

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

1. The manuscript should clarify the gaps in existing research and the contribution of the manuscript.

2. In the introduction part, the authors have sorted out the evaluation system of high-quality development, and how the authors define high-quality development is of great significance to the deep understanding of the content of the manuscript.

3. compared with the previous studies, what is the difference between the indicator system constructed by the author?

4. Why did the author choose Ningxia Eco-Economic Zone as the study area, and what is the significance of evaluating his high-quality development for other similar countries or regions?

Moderate editing of English language required

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for the updates.

It could be improved.

Reviewer 2 Report

Accept in present form.

Reviewer 3 Report

There are no more comments.

Reviewer 4 Report

Manuscript is improved according my suggestions. Thank You.

Minor editing of English language required