PSTR-D-21-00056

Investment needs to achieve SDGs: an overview.

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

Dear Dr. Kulkarni,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS Sustainability and Transformation'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 Apr 20 2022 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 SustainTransform@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pstr/ 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,

Rebecca Cunningham, Ph.D

Section Editor

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

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Additional Editor Comments (if provided):

Thank you for your submission.

Please undertake the minor revisions as outlined by the reviewers and we look forward to your contribution to this publication in due course.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Does this manuscript meet PLOS Sustainability and Transformation’s publication criteria? Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? The manuscript must describe methodologically and ethically rigorous research with conclusions that are appropriately drawn 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 (please refer to the Data Availability Statement at the start of the manuscript PDF file)?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception. 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 #2: Yes

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

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation 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: The methodology followed needs to be more detailed. E.g. authors should specify what keywords they used in their search and how many sources were identified prior to get to the 23 final sources.

Also, what do authors mean by large world regions and were the costs initially in USD or they were converted?

Reviewer #2: Recommendation: Minor revision

The current study reports an interesting topic that points out the investment needs to achieve SDGs. The concept is not novel but the manuscript shows a good scientific quality. The manuscript is very well written in standard English; minor corrections are needed in this concern.

In the Abstract’s part, little adjustments are needed and the provision of keywords is urgently a must. Minor corrections are also needed in the Introduction, Methods and Results part. The Discussion part is very well written and is accepted in its current form. The Conclusions part needs to be re-written in a more concise way; however, it supports all the manuscript’s findings and suggests further research.

Overall, the manuscript needs to be put on the journal’s guidelines as it is not the case.

Briefly, based on all clarifications mentioned above and below in the comments, I find that the manuscript has a merit to be published in “PLOS Sustainability and Transformation” once all my suggestions and recommendation are well addressed by the authors in a point-by-point rebuttal letter. I hope that all my comments would help improve the authors’ high quality manuscript.

Abstract

1) Lines 33–36: “We have… action: Kindly avoid the first voice form of the sentence and adopt the impersonal form instead.

2) Line 40: Keywords are lacking; accordingly, kindly provide suitable ones.

1. Introduction

1) Line 46: Kindly adjust all the in-text references presentation according to the journal’s guidelines.

2) Lines 54–60: “The SDGs… challenges”: These statements lack reliable sources (references); accordingly, kindly provide them.

3) Lines 61–62: “Estimating… investments”: Same recommendation as in the previous comment.

4) Line 74: Kindly replace “In the other study” by “While”.

2. Methods

1) Lines 83–84: “We have… literature”: Kindly avoid the first voice form of the sentence and adopt the impersonal form instead.

2) Lines 85–86: “Subsequently… publications”: Same recommendation as in the previous comment.

3) Lines 88–90: “We used… information”: Same recommendation as in the previous two comments.

4) Line 91: Kindly replace “Next” by “Then”.

3. Results

1) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, Lines 145–146: “We have… alternatives”: Kindly avoid the first voice form of the sentence and adopt the impersonal form instead.

2) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.1 SDG 2, Lines 162–163: “We have… spending”: Same recommendation as in the previous comment.

3) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.5 SDG 7, Lines 293–295: “Dagnachew… 2030”: The sentence is badly written in standard English; accordingly, kindly reformulate it.

4) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.6 SDG 9, Line 313: “All investment… baseline”: Kindly avoid the first voice of the sentence and adopt the impersonal form instead.

5) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.6 SDG 9, Lines 318–320: “To avoid… SDG 9”: Same recommendation as in the previous comment.

5. Conclusions

1) Lines 439–461: Kindly re-write the Conclusions part in a more concise manner.

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6. 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.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Dr. Sawssan Boufous

Reviewer #2: No

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Investment needs to achieve SDGs: an overview.

PSTR-D-21-00056R1

Dear Kulkarni,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript 'Investment needs to achieve SDGs: an overview.' has been provisionally accepted for publication in PLOS Sustainability and Transformation.

Before your manuscript can be formally accepted you will need to complete some formatting changes, which you will receive in a follow-up email from a member of our team. 

Please note that your manuscript will not be scheduled for publication until you have made the required changes, so a swift response is appreciated.

IMPORTANT: The editorial review process is now complete. PLOS will only permit corrections to spelling, formatting or significant scientific errors from this point onwards. Requests for major changes, or any which affect the scientific understanding of your work, will cause delays to the publication date of your manuscript.

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 SustainTransform@plos.org.

Thank you again for supporting Open Access publishing; we are looking forward to publishing your work in PLOS Sustainability and Transformation.

Best regards,

Kendall McKenzie

Managing Editor

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

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Reviewer Comments (if any, and for reference):

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 #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Does this manuscript meet PLOS Sustainability and Transformation’s publication criteria? Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? The manuscript must describe methodologically and ethically rigorous research with conclusions that are appropriately drawn based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available (please refer to the Data Availability Statement at the start of the manuscript PDF file)?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception. 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 #2: Yes

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

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation 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

**********

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: (No Response)

Reviewer #2: Recommendation: Accept

Authors have made all needed improvements and more than that. They are well thanked for their big efforts. Only very minor modifications are requested below.

Briefly, based on all clarifications mentioned above and below in the comments, I find that the manuscript has a big merit now to be published in “PLOS Sustainability and Transformation”.

3. Results

1) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.5 SDG 7, Line 306: Kindly remove the first “in”.

2) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.5 SDG 7, Line 308: Kindly adjust as follow: “used”.

3) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.5 SDG 7, Line 310: Kindly adjust as follow: “estimated”.

4) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 381: Kindly adjust the title of this paragraph as follow: “SDGs 14 and 15”.

5) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 386: Kindly remove “a” after “Such”.

6) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 389: Kindly adjust the in-text reference form according to the journal’s guidelines.

7) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 389: Kindly adjust as follow: “estimated”.

8) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Lines 392–393: Kindly adjust as follow: “developed” and replace “are” by “were”.

9) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 395: Kindly adjust as follow: “provided”.

10) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 398: Kindly replace “is” by “are”.

11) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 400: Kindly adjust as follow: “suggested”.

12) 3.2 Overview of investment needs, 3.2.8 SDGs 14 and 15, Line 402: Kindly remove “does” and adjust as follow: “presents”.

5. Conclusions

1) Line 495: Kindly adjust the sentence as follow: “While the current study indicates…”

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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.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: Yes: Sawssan Boufous

Reviewer #2: No

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