Integration Experiences of Former Afghan Refugees in Australia: What Challenges Still Remain after Becoming Citizens?
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Thank you for writing this important article! The manuscript is interesting to read - well-presented and original. I would, therefore, like to commend the authors for the work they have done. However, I have observed that the article requires some improvements. As a consequence, I recommend a revision. I offer my suggestions as follows:
Rights and Citizenship
Citizenship and rights are at the heart of the conceptual framework. What challenges Have Still Remained After Being Citizens? To address the question as alluded in the title requires one to look closely at - "the hierarchy of citizenship" more broadly
This is because “Rights and Citizenship” are the foundation upon which other factors sit, such as housing, healthcare, employment, education, etc.
Please see the attached PDF file for details.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your generous comments on the manuscript.
We have revised the manuscript to address your concerns. In particular, we have included multiple links between citizenship and the intersection of factors like race both in Introduction and Conclusion. We also took advantage of that valuable article that you mentioned in discussing the hierarchy of citizenship in Australia.
We hope that the revisions in the manuscript will be sufficient to make it suitable for publication.
Reviewer 2 Report
To Author(s)
It would be preferable presenting your results in a more structured table and to dedicate more space to illustrate the sociodemographic caractheristics of your sample.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your generous comments on the manuscript.
We have edited the manuscript to address your comments. In particular, we presented the findings in a more structured table. We also discussed the sociodemographic characteristics a little more.
We hope that the revisions will be sufficient to make the manuscript suitable for publication.
Reviewer 3 Report
This is a very useful study. I think it would be improved with more inclusion of public health research on Afghans in Australia in the literature review and with some consideration of those factors in the discussion/conclusion. After all, recommendations for what more needs to be done will benefit from a concise inventory of what has been/is being done. Also, the qualitative information could use some comparative context. For example, is access to employment reported in your survey higher/lower/the same as for the working-age Australians as whole.
Some studies that may be useful for the authors to review/integrate:
- Russo, Alana, et al. "A Qualitative Exploration of the Emotional Wellbeing and Support Needs of New Mothers from Afghanistan Living in Melbourne, Australia." BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, vol. 15, no. 1, 2015, pp. 197-197.
- Maroney, Pamela, Marianne Potter, and Vinod R. Thacore. "Experiences in Occupational Therapy with Afghan Clients in Australia." Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, vol. 61, no. 1, 2014, pp. 13-19.
- Due, Clemence, et al. ""at Night He Cries from Dreams": Perceptions of Children's Psychological Distress and Wellbeing Amongst Parents with Refugee Or Asylum Seeker Backgrounds in Australia." Australian Psychologist, vol. 54, no. 5, 2019, pp. 438-449.
- Cheng, I-Hao, et al. "Importance of Community Engagement in Primary Health Care: The Case of Afghan Refugees." Australian Journal of Primary Health, vol. 21, no. 3, 2015, pp. 262-267.
- Shafiei, Touran, Rhonda Small, and Helen McLachlan. "Immigrant Afghan Women's Emotional Well-being After Birth and use of Health Services in Melbourne, Australia."Midwifery, vol. 31, no. 7, 2015, pp. 671-677.
- Clark, Alice, et al. "'Excuse Me, do any of You Ladies Speak English?' Perspectives of Refugee Women Living in South Australia: Barriers to Accessing Primary Health Care and Achieving the Quality use of Medicines." Australian Journal of Primary Health, vol. 20, no. 1, 2014, pp. 92-97.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your generous comments on the manuscript.
We have edited the manuscript to address your comments. In particular, we included more public health research on Afghan refugee's health conditions in the introduction. We also discussed this issue in conclusion. In addition, there is an income comparison between Afghans and those who were born in Australia in conclusion. Finally, we added some recommendations for the Australian Government to support the Afghan community.
We hope that the revisions will be sufficient to make the manuscript suitable for publication.
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
I thank you for your revising the article, and I am glad to hear that you found my previous comments helpful in improving your work.
I believe the manuscript has been sufficiently improved to warrant publication in IJERPH following minor corrections below:
- Missing punctuation in a new sentence on page 11.
This is in line with Lazarus's research that ‘some citizens are more equal than others’ [15].
I hope you agree with the above-highlighted punctuation and word I inserted into the original sentence (page 11).
- Missing citation on page 2.
You integrated new pieces of works into the introduction. It is good practice for every claim/sentence obtained from a published work to be supported by a citation/reference.
For example, "....different intersecting factors like race, religion, gender, and class specify one’s status in the hierarchy of citizenship..."(page 2).
The above sentence about 'the hierarchy of citizenship' derived from reference [15] requires a direct acknowledgement to citation/reference [15].
So, to avoid plagiarism in its entirety, you might want to rewrite it as follows or something like that:
Different intersecting factors like race, religion, gender, and class specify one’s status in "the hierarchy of citizenship" in society [15].
These are just minor issues. All the best!
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you again for your valuable comments.
I addressed those minor corrections in the attached draft of the manuscript.
Reviewer 3 Report
This updated version is going to be very helpful to many academic fields, in addition to its scholarly recommendations for policy makers.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for all your comments and suggestions to improve this manuscript.
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
