PONE-D-22-27369Multi-Dimensional Disparity Index (MDI) and its Dimensions: A Case of  NepalPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Bhattarai,

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Muhammad Tayyab Sohail

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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3.Please include your tables as part of your main manuscript and remove the individual files. Please note that supplementary tables (should remain/ be uploaded) as separate ""supporting information"" files.

Additional Editor Comments:

To further improve the text, I suggest the following changes in the manuscript.

Abstract: Abstract should be written in concise. I would suggest listing only some of the most important results to justify the implications and conclusions of the study.

The background of an introduction should be revised accordingly.

The introduction is very good. It doesn't reflect the goal; please rewrite it again, it is suggested to include some latest reference.

Objectives of this study must be included at end of introduction part.

I highly recommended to authors, if possible, please modify the figure with good quality images.

The economic intuition behind the results are missing. The author/s should revise the discussion part. The result should be supported with recent studies.

What is contribution of this work to existing literature?

It has been observed that the authors have used old references and ignored the latest studies. So it is suggested to add recent references. Please check reference section some references are missing.The policy implications also required elaboration. The implications should go along with the results and the course of action should be discussed in this part. In some places, some grammatical errors are found that need to be fixed.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This manuscript has been selected from a relatively novel perspective. The comments as follows.

1.The following points should be clearly stated in the introduction：

�What are the limitations of the MDI index, and what are the advantages of the index for Nepal? Are there any limitations for Nepal?

�In the introduction, the purpose of the study and the significance of the study should be further clarified.

2.The number of government officials, international NGO workers, MDI experts, economists, academicians, announcement health experts and sociologists involved in determining MDI dimensions and indicators in the research methodology. And their reliability and validity in this process, such as t-test.

3.It is suggested that the basic profiles of the seven provincial governments of Nepal, which are the subject of the study, should be introduced in the research methodology including physical geography, climate, economy, culture, population, politics, education, etc.

4. The results are only a relatively simple description of Table 2, without deeper excavation, not to mention the analysis of the actual situation in the provinces and cities.

5.The discussion does not provide a good argument for the implementability of MDI index in Nepalese applications and its scientific validity.

6.The discussion should further analyze and draw out the particularities and commonalities of Nepal and its provinces in terms of economy, education, health, geography, population, and life, and the reasons for these individualities and commonalities.

After revising the above items, I recommend accepting this manuscript.

Reviewer #2: Research title may be revised. Most of the he references / citations mentioned in the article are very old the research objectives and rationale required to be properly specified. Research design is weak. article proofreading is highly recommended. The study period to calculate MDI not mentioned to assess or make conclusions.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Measuring Multi-dimensional Disparity Index: A Case of Nepal

PONE-D-22-27369R1

Dear Dr. Bhattarai,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Muhammad Tayyab Sohail

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This article comprehensively evaluates the differences between seven provinces in Nepal through Multi-dimensional Disparity Index (MDI). I have seen the great efforts made by the authors, resulting in greatly improved content. Here are some minor suggestions for this article, be specific:

1. 1-2 sentences should be added to the abstract to briefly introduce the purpose of this research. For example, the contribution and use of Multi-dimensional Disparity Index (MDI).

2. Keywords are of substantial significance in expressing the central content of the thesis. I think the current 7 keywords are a bit redundant. Therefore, I suggest replacing it with more concise and generalized vocabulary, which should be able to clearly and intuitively express the topic of literature discussion or expression.

3. What should the authors further consider to be the contribution of this study to the country or region? Therefore, I suggest that the author put forward some relevant policy recommendations based on the results of the current research.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

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