The History of the School of Animal Science at the University of Padova (Padua) and the Evolution of Animal Science in Italy

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript describes in detail the history of the School of Animal Science at the University of Padua and the evolution of animal science in Italy. It is very well structured, with pleasant and didactic writing. The figures are adequate.

Author Response

Thanks for you positive comments.

Reviewer 2 Report

This is a very interesting history of the evolution of Animal Science at The University of Padova. It is well written, informative with few suggested changes (and all are minor).

1.       L 52-58 are generally unnecessary to the paper and could be deleted.

2.       Write out the word Professor. Don’t use abbreviation (Prof.)

3.       There is an overuse of direct quotes, but if the authors believe its critical to maintain meaning, its ok to leave as is.

4.       Remove the use of ‘etc.’. It lets readers guess what is meant (and they could be wrong). Make the list more inclusive or just offer specific examples.

5.       Use greater or greatest vs higher and highest

6.       The biggest are that requires consideration by the authors is inclusion of chapter 4. This is reference to all of Italy and not focused on the University of Padova. It is interesting but is not the focus of the article.  If the authors wish to keep this section, they should include the number (or percentage) of the publications and citations that come from faculty that are employed at the University of Padova.

Again, a very interesting historical perspective on this very old institution.

Author Response

This is a very interesting history of the evolution of Animal Science at The University of Padova. It is well written, informative with few suggested changes (and all are minor).

Thanks for your positive comments. We have modified the manuscript according your suggestions, the changes are evidenced in yellow in the text.

1. L 52-58 are generally unnecessary to the paper and could be deleted.

We deleted these lines.

2. Write out the word Professor. Don’t use abbreviation (Prof.)

We replaced Prof. with Professor

3. There is an overuse of direct quotes, but if the authors believe its critical to maintain meaning, its ok to leave as is.

We prefer to maintain this structure, it is needed to reach the aim of this review.

4. Remove the use of ‘etc.’. It lets readers guess what is meant (and they could be wrong). Make the list more inclusive or just offer specific examples.

The use of “etc.” has been removed on the revised manuscript.

5. Use greater or greatest vs higher and highest

Done.

6. The biggest are that requires consideration by the authors is inclusion of chapter 4. This is reference to all of Italy and not focused on the University of Padova. It is interesting but is not the focus of the article.  If the authors wish to keep this section, they should include the number (or percentage) of the publications and citations that come from faculty that are employed at the University of Padova.

A new sentence with data focused on the University of Padova has been added. See lines 710-712 of revised manuscript.

Again, a very interesting historical perspective on this very old institution.

Thank you!

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This review deals with the history of the scientific institutions working on animal science in Padova and the Veneto region in Italy. The paper offers a very nice presentation about one of the ancient and important universities, namely the University of Padova, which contributes to the development of animal science in Italy and Europe. In fact, despite that most of the information is in Italian at Padova University, the international databases appearing in the recent decades have pushed its national and international recognition. The authors demonstrate the place of Italian and Paduan animal science in the European contest through bibliometric analyses.

I enjoyed reading this paper and found it well-written.

Author Response

Thanks for your positive comments.