Coupling and Coordinated Development of Environmental Regulation and the Upgrading of Industrial Structure: Evidence from China’s 10 Major Urban Agglomerations

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Congratulations, your paper is very interesting and very much relevant for the literature on Development and Environmental Regulation.

Nevertheless, I would like you to develop a better international framework - or, at least, at Asian level. Referring, slightly, to the UN is not enough.

Moreover, this limitation is also notorious on your literature - mainly from Chinese authors.

Regardeless this major caveat, I do find your paper to have significant merits.

The quality of the English is fair enough

Author Response

Comments 1: [Nevertheless, I would like you to develop a better international framework - or, at least, at Asian level.  Referring, slightly, to the UN is not enough.]

Response 1: We greatly appreciate your professional review, as international frameworks play a crucial role in research. You have highlighted an important aspect that was previously overlooked in our manuscript. In response to your suggestion, we have made revisions to the manuscript. Please refer to lines 48-60 on page 2 and lines 162-171 on page 4. All revisions have been highlighted in red for your convenience.

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper examines the relationship between the development of environmental regulations and the upgrading of industrial structure, employing econometric methods. The numerical data analysis focuses on 10 major urban agglomerations in China.

 The following suggestions are provided for the authors to consider in revising the paper:

Literature Review: A Literature Review section should be added to provide context and background for the study.

 Research Innovations: The authors should clearly highlight their research innovations and contributions in this paper.

 Methodology Section: The Methodology section, which contains eight sub-sections, is currently difficult to follow. The authors should revise the structure of this section and include a diagram to illustrate the research flow.

 Connection Between Sections: The connection between Sections 3 and 4 is unclear. The contents of Section 3 appear to overlap with the empirical study described in Section 4. The authors must reference the formulas presented in Section 2 when discussing the numerical outcomes in Sections 3 and 4.

 Placement of Figures and Tables: Figures and tables should be placed immediately after the text where they are discussed. Additionally, the information presented in tables should not be repeated in figures.

Author Response

Comments 1: [Literature Review: A Literature Review section should be added to provide context and background for the study.]

Response 1: We greatly appreciate your suggestion. We have added a literature review section and incorporated additional relevant literature. Please refer to page 3~5 in our revised manuscript.

Comments 2: [ Research Innovations: The authors should clearly highlight their research innovations and contributions in this paper.]

Response 2: We have added a detailed description of the research innovations and contributions on pages 4-5, lines 185-217.

Comments 3: [Methodology Section: The Methodology section, which contains eight sub-sections, is currently difficult to follow. The authors should revise the structure of this section and include a diagram to illustrate the research flow.]

Response 3: We appreciate this helpful suggestion, as the original version was somewhat difficult to follow. We have moved the table 'List of cities contained in the ten major urban agglomerations' to the appendix to streamline the subsections and added a new table to clarify the methodological steps.

Comments 4:[Connection Between Sections: The connection between Sections 3 and 4 is unclear. The contents of Section 3 appear to overlap with the empirical study described in Section 4. The authors must reference the formulas presented in Section 2 when discussing the numerical outcomes in Sections 3 and 4.]

Response 4: Section 3 (now Section 4 in the revised manuscript) focuses on describing the CCD to highlight changes in its status across China. In contrast, Section 4 (now Section 5) examines the impact of CCD on industrial structure upgrading. Thank you for highlighting the issue regarding formula references. We have added the appropriate references on page 9 (lines 359-360) and page 12 (lines 429-432).

Comments 5: [Placement of Figures and Tables: Figures and tables should be placed immediately after the text where they are discussed. Additionally, the information presented in tables should not be repeated in figures.]

Response 5: We apologize for the oversight. We have deleted the redundant figures and adjusted the placement of the tables.

We sincerely thank you for your professional review, which has significantly improved the quality of our manuscript. Your insights and suggestions have been invaluable in refining our work, and we are deeply appreciative of the time and effort you have invested in this process.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have made significant improvements to the manuscript.