Effective Public Administration as a Tool for Building Smart Cities: The Experience of the Slovak Republic

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article is well structured, it utilizes references from scientifically recognized sources, the manner of treatment is original and it ends with conclusions useful for contemporary administrative science.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 1,

  Thank you very much for your extremely positive review. However, based on the comments of other reviewers, we have modified the article.

Best regards, authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This is a very good paper, a position paper style.

I would add a part of benchmark in the international law in order to show potential improvements of the Slovakian situation in the future, in order to propose a model for managing the innovation of the scenarios.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 2,

  Thank you very much for your positive review. Based on your comments, we modified the article with subsection 4.5 The development of the electronicization of public administration in the Czech Republic. We hope we fulfilled your expectations. We also edited the article with the comments of other reviewers

Best regards, authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This is a very interesting article, based on the example of Slovakia. All city residents must take into account the increase in the intensity of using electronic connections and IT systems. The authorities have the right and duty to administer, but also have a duty to listen to the city's inhabitants. Any information exchange is advisable. Here, there is no indication of what systems are meant for and what they can be used for. But it may be, for example, an opinion about public transport, access to public administration centers, and access to municipal technical infrastructure (water supply, sewage system, etc.).

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 3,

  Thank you very much for your positive review. Based on your comments, we modified the article in subsection 4.4. Information technology in public administration activities in practice. We hope we fulfilled your expectations. We also edited the article with the comments of other reviewers.

Best regards, authors

Reviewer 4 Report

Dear Authors,

Many thanks for the opportunity to read your manuscript. It is really well organized and prepared according to the journal requirements, however, there is some unclearance regarding the content of it.

1.      In your abstract at the beginning you mentioned: The scientific study focuses on examining the requirements forming the concept of the  right to effective administration in relation to the communication of local governments with their residents. This statement is looking like your aim. But later in the abstract, you provided the aim, which has absolutely different topics in mind: The assessment of the effectiveness of selected activities of the Slovak public administration is the  main objective of this study, which focuses on the area of administrative sciences with overlaps in management.

2.      Your introduction requires rewriting. You decided to present a smart city idea in it, however, normally it is used for providing the actuality of the topic, presentation of the research problem, and research questions/s. Now you like made modest literature analysis on smart city. Which actually is needed and this text can be used in the next part in the literature review. However, you need to enrich your manuscript with the following sources:

*Albino, V., Berardi, U., & Dangelico, R. M. Smart cities: Definitions, dimensions, performance, and initiatives. Journal of urban technology, 2015, 22, 3-21.

*Castelnovo, W.; Misuraca, G.; Savoldelli, A. Smart cities governance: The need for a holistic approach to

assessing urban participatory policy making. Soc. Sci. Comput. Rev. 2016, 34, 724–739.

               *García Fernández, C., Peek, D. Smart and sustainable? Positioning adaptation to climate change in the   European smart city. Smart Cities. 2020, 3, 511-526.

*Kandt, J., Batty, M. "Smart cities, big data and urban policy: Towards urban analytics for the long run." Cities, 2021, 109, 102992.

Mills, D.; Pudney, S.; Pevcin, P.; Dvorak, J. Evidence-Based Public Policy Decision-Making in Smart Cities: Does Extant Theory Support Achievement of City Sustainability Objectives? Sustainability 2022, 14, 3. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010003

3.      Your literature review is mainly based on the European Court of Human Rights, however, for the scientific article, you can also look for other legal scholars' works that will give other insights too.

4.       The research question which was mentioned either in the abstract or in the material and methods section is very far from the main title of the publication as you are going to analyze the communication too.

5.       Your part results is looking like a collection of different other research which is not connected to much with previously mentioned content. You mentioned that first you will analyze communication but started European Charter of Local Self-Government and Regulation of the e-Performance of Local 206 Self-Government. This ambition has not been mentioned before. Then right for Right to good administration in Slovak legislation. Only third came: Communication of local authorities with residents and the right to good administration as a 325 legally indeterminate concept. Finally, absolutely new piece of research: Information technology in public administration activities in practice. Here is mentioned that you conducted email survey on a sample of 300 recipients with user satisfaction of the portal www.slovensko.sk But before in methods you mentioned: Using a comparative method, we make available different opinions of lawyers, economists as well as managers in the field of smart 198 city management, not only on the appropriateness of legislation but also on the interpretation of individual legal institutes. By doing so, we strive for a beneficial management- 200 legal view on the issue under investigation. Due to our many years of experience in practicing legal practice and in the field of administrative law, we also use doctrinal interpretation.

 

Your manuscript audience will not understand what you are going to present to them. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer 4,

Thank you very much for your opinion and objective and critical assessment of the shortcomings of the article. Based on your constructive comments, we edited the article as follows:
- we revised the abstract to match the content of the article,
- we revised the introduction according to your recommendations,
- part of the text from the introduction was moved to the literature review, which enriched this part,
- the manuscript has been enriched by sources specified by you,
- we reworked the Methods and methodology section, set the main goal, sub-goals and research question,
- based on the proposal of another reviewer, we added subchapter 4. 5 to the manuscript, which is devoted to the development of the electronicization of public administration in the Czech Republic and was subsequently compared with the Slovak development,
- we expanded the "Discussion and conclusion" section
- based on the executive editor's recommendation, we have also modified the title of the article.

 We hope we fulfilled your expectations. We also edited the article with the comments of other reviewers.

Best regards, authors

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

Thank you for your replies. The list of LITERATURE requires the sample style.