PONE-D-24-10189Analysis of Lithium Trade Patterns and Influencing Factors in the Regions Along the "Belt and Road"PLOS ONE

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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: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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 study studies the trade patterns and influencing factors of lithium in the regions along the "Belt and Road". The structure of the article is clear and logical. However, here are some comments for the author's reference:

1. Some sentences in the abstract are lengthy, which can be further simplified to improve readability.

2. The conclusion section of the abstract should more clearly summarize the main findings and implications of the study. While the current abstract lists the findings, it does not generalize about the implications or implications of the study in a whole.

3. Authors have included literature review in ‘Introduction’ section related to certain aspects of topic, but it does not seem to have a logical overall flow. Relevant literature review should be done in the line with the following question: What is the limitation about previous studies, and how this paper fills the gap? Your literature review should lead to the specific hypothesis for what you expect to find in targeted area.

4. Section data is used in part 2.2, which lacks time series information, so it cannot reveal the long-term trend and dynamic changes of lithium trade.

5. The empirical part can enrich some methods, such as principal component analysis and factor analysis. Further analysis of the basic lithium product trade network pattern of countries along the route.

6. Some specific measures can be proposed in the conclusion part.

7. Finally, the paper is poorly written and this current form requires serious improvement in all sections.

Reviewer #2: 1. Analysis of the evolution of trade import and export patterns should prioritize the overall spatial characteristics rather than merely discussing the network status of nodes and the strength of their connections. Additionally, assertions regarding changes in these patterns should be supported with literature or empirical evidence rather than being based on subjective speculation.

2. Analysis of structural features should focus on elucidating the relationships among different methodologies and the scientific questions they address, rather than merely supplementing the workload with classical social network analysis techniques.

3. Although numerous methods are employed throughout this paper to meet varied research objectives, it is advisable to consolidate these methods and present them in Chapter Two. This arrangement will clarify the interrelationships among the methods and their roles within the overarching research aims.

4.The selection of factors influencing the evolution of trade patterns in foundational lithium products under the "Belt and Road" initiative needs to be underpinned by additional literature to demonstrate their validity and scientific soundness.

5. The policy recommendations provided in the document should align more closely with the analytical results. The current analysis is overly generalized and lacks a strong connection to the substantive content of the research.

6. The introduction of the paper should be significantly enhanced with additional literature, addressing topics including but not limited to the global trade of lithium products and the application of social network analysis methodologies.

Reviewer #3: 1.What are the main indicators of social network analysis that need to be introduced in the Research Methodology section? What is the reason why the paper only selected some indicators? What is the reason why the author did not perform block modeling and core edge analysis?

2.The Research methodology section also needs to introduce the principles and advantages of QAP regression. Suggestions 5.1 and 5.2 are placed in the research methods section.

3. Section 3-4 needs to focus on the role of China and the "the Belt and Road" policy in the lithium trade network.

4. It is necessary to supplement the theoretical basis for the indicators selected in section 5.2.

5. Policy recommendations should be separately listed as a section of content. In addition, countermeasures and suggestions should be given to the Belt and Road Initiative (China) and participating countries (other countries) respectively.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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Analysis of Lithium Trade Patterns and Influencing Factors in the Regions Along the "Belt and Road"

PONE-D-24-10189R1

Dear Dr. Du,

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.

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Kind regards,

Suhairul Hashim, PhD

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

Reviewer #3: 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

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

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: The detailed response to my last report is satisfactory, I thus recommend acceptance of the revised manuscript.

Reviewer #3: The authors revised this paper according to the comments of the reviewers, so it is recommended to accept it.

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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

Reviewer #3: No

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