PONE-D-23-41742The Direct Role, Mechanism Analysis, and Driving Effect of Digital Empowerment of Carbon Reduction in Enterprises ——Empirical evidence from listed companiesPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Jing,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jul 20 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Xiaoyong Zhou, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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: No

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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: 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 article studies the impact and mechanism of digital transformation of enterprises on carbon emissions. Empirical research verifies theoretical hypotheses. However, there are still the following issues that need further improvement.

1. In the theoretical analysis section, it is recommended to add a theoretical model framework diagram to facilitate readers to understand the author's research ideas.

2. It is recommended that the author compare the obtained results with research results in relevant fields and analyze the applicable scenarios of relevant theories based on similarities and differences.

3. The issue of collinearity in data needs to be tested.

4. Why is there such a significant difference in R2 in Table 2? The R2 of model (1) is 0, model (4) only added a "Regional effect" compared to model (3), but R2 increased from 0.295 to 0.92.

5.From the author's theoretical analysis and model design, reducing the cost of environmental governance, improving the competition degree of the industry, and increasing the green innovation are mediating effects in the impact of digital transformation on carbon emissions, but the author did not rigorously test these mediating effects, such as sobel and bootstrap tests.

Reviewer #2: This manuscript aims to comprehensively investigate the nexus between the digital transformation and carbon emission reduction using panel data of A-share listed companies in China (2007-2021). This topic is relevant and interesting for readers of PLOS ONE. The method is clearly explained, the result report is logical and the conclusion is supported by the data. In presentation, however, the organization and demonstration of this manuscript can be improved. Therefore, I suggest to accept this manuscript for publication pending some minor revisions. Recommendations for improvement are listed below.

(1) Abstract: The authors should clearly and systematically present the direct, mediating, driving, and heterogeneous effects of corporate digital transformation on carbon emissions reduction, ensuring coherence from beginning to end.

(2) Literature review and research hypothesis: Given the numerous variables and mechanism pathways discussed in the article, it is recommended to include a framework diagram to elucidate the specific impact mechanisms and pathways.

(3) Data source and description: The financial sector is generally excluded, at least during the sample selection process. Given the unbalanced panel data, it is necessary to indicate the number of listed companies throughout the sample period.

(4) Benchmark regression: Significantly positive quadratic terms of explanatory variable may not necessarily be a U-shaped relationship, and the U-shaped curve can be further U-tested by referring to the literature " Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy Research ".

(5) Endogeneity and robustness test: The construction of instrumental variables yields only cross-sectional data, requiring further explanation on how they are treated as panel data. Additionally, addressing the endogeneity problem with double differencing is commendable, but the parallel trend assumption is a prerequisite for its validity. Therefore, it is advisable to conduct and pass the parallel trend test.

(6) Analysis of the heterogeneity: The regression coefficients of different subgroups are significant and in the same direction, and cannot be simply compared to the size of the coefficients, which needs to be tested by the coefficient of variation between groups.

(7) There are some grammar mistakes in this manuscript. Please ask some native English writers to help you improve this paper.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Hongjun Guan

Reviewer #2: No

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PONE-D-23-41742R1Corporate digital transformation and Carbon Emission Intensity: Empirical evidence from listed companies in ChinaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Guo,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Oct 24 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Tianheng Shu, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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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 #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: (No Response)

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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 #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #2: 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 #2: No

Reviewer #3: (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 #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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 #2: The authors have addressed most of the reviewers’ comments appropriately, resulting in an improved quality of the paper. However, several minor comments/suggestions remain:

1. The introduction section remains insufficient. It is recommended that after introducing the topic, the section should include a description of the research strategy and clearly indicate the marginal contribution of this paper compared to existing studies.

2. The conclusion should succinctly summarize the core findings of the study. The comparative analysis of the results can be discussed after the empirical results in the previous section.

3. This paper reveals a U-shaped relationship between digitalization and carbon intensity of enterprises, providing new perspectives for policymakers. The authors can refer to “U-shaped relationship between digitalization and low-carbon economy: Mediation and spillover effects, JCLP, 2024” to enhance the corresponding policy implications.

4. Further improvement of the reference format is recommended.

Reviewer #3: Dear Authors, I hope this feedback finds you well. I have carefully reviewed your paper and would like to provide some suggestions for improvement. Please consider the following points.

1. The current introduction is a bit too brief, and it's suggested that the author add three more paragraphs. The first and second paragraphs stay the same. The third paragraph should be transformed into the main research content and conclusion of this paper. The fourth paragraph should be modified to the research contribution (with the contribution in the literature review removed), and the fifth paragraph should be converted to an introduction of the structure of the paper. It's important to note that when writing the research contribution, the author needs to cite previous literature. In other words, summarize in one sentence what previous researchers have done, what problems still exist, and how your research resolves these problems.

2. The rest of the paper is fine. I'd like to offer the author a tip. When uploading the revised manuscript, please don't upload the revised mode manuscript. Just highlight the modified parts.

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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 #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Corporate digital transformation and Carbon Emission Intensity: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China

PONE-D-23-41742R2

Dear Dr. Guo,

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 will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. If you have any questions relating to publication charges, 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,

Tianheng Shu, 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 #2: (No Response)

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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 #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #2: 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 #2: No

**********

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 #2: 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 #2: The author has revised the corresponding parts as required, and the article as a whole seems to be of a certain level and has reached the level of publication.

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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 #2: No

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