Real-Life Synchromodality Challenges: A Qualitative Study in Flanders
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsSynchromodality is a relatively new concept (this keyword produces only 49 results in SCOPUS) that combines popular concepts such as modal shift, multimodality, co-modality, DRP and SCM. This connection does not open new possibilities from a technical point of view but gives a fresh start for transport research. For this reason, the article's subject should be considered important and future-oriented. Additionally, synchromodality mechanisms used in an appropriately targeted manner can be an element of pro-ecological and sustainable development.
Table 1 provides an interesting overview of synchromodality, and the following sections of the article discuss it. It should be considered whether, in this case, the author's goal is to study the concept of synchromodality in a broader scope, like in a textbook (the first part of the article) or maybe to indicate its features based on a case study (the second part of the article). However, this broad introduction to the concept may benefit readers unfamiliar with the subject matter.
A literature review is good, although limited by the number of items available for comparison.
Basis of the paper - the Focus Group study is a good solution, but no information is provided on the structure and size of this group. The lack of formal notification in this area redirects the proposed article from scientific to analytical and popular areas. Nevertheless, the findings from the Focus Group study and their analysis are interesting and add some new elements to the knowledge about synchromodal transport.
Elements of the scientific method should be introduced in the proposed article. In its current form, it is an interesting and instructive but analytical and popular study.
The element of sustainability should be exposed better.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses attached and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted/in track changes in the re-submitted files.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear authors,
I appreciated your article, and made some observations that are in the file marked in green. You can ignore the yellow highlights, which are personal and point out some relevant aspects from my personal point of view.
If I have to make an observation, I can say that the topic of synchromodality reflects the need to have prediction models that are as reliable as possible, in order to anticipate modal choices at the operational level. You have not mentioned these possible models, whereas it would have been interesting to go into them in more detail. I do not know if you are able to supplement this article, otherwise this could become an aspect to be dealt with in a later publication.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
No specific comment.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses attached and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted/in track changes in the re-submitted files.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis is an interesting paper containing relevant findings concerning synchromodality. As such, there is a need for research in this domain and my suggestion would be that the paper can be published subject to a minor revision. A couple of suggestions to be considered for the final version:
- More details about the focus group, incl. how many attended, what there precise questions (could be annexed) and more information about the responses + the link between the responses and the SWOT
- More details on the 3 interviews - what were questions and format for the interviews, how were the interviewees selected
- Table 5 should be clarified - I don't understand why there are 2 columns for road and inland waterways - shouldn't it just be 1 column per mode? It may also be possible discuss the results in the table more, because there are some interesting information contained
- Perhaps also consideration to not only road and inland waterways but rail at least in the concluding section
- In the conclusion I would suggest to provide further information about future research / perspectives and transferability
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Overall, English is fine - but a final read may be useful to fine-tune the text
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses attached and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted/in track changes in the re-submitted files.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe article studies how synchromodality can improve sustainability efforts in freight transportation. The topic is relevant from the transportation and supply chain management perspectives, and can have important practical contributions.
The paper as currently written raises these issues:
1) In Section 3 (Case Study Setting), the data on freight transport (Figures 1 and 2) need to provide exact information about the units of analysis that are used. Does the data refer to number of trips? Or does the data show the “ton-mile” (or “megagram-kilometer”) of freight being moved using different modes?
2) From Figure 1, the paper states how freight transportation on waterways in the EU declined, while freight transportation on roads in EU increased over a ten-year period, and from Figure 2, the paper states how freight transportation on waterways in Belgium increased, while freight transportation on roads in Belgium declined over a four-year period.
For both the above claims, the paper needs to provide statistical tests to prove if the respective increase/ decrease for all cases is statistically significant. Just an observation of a change in percentages from year to year does not provide a convincing argument for a genuine change to transportation mode choices in the EU or in Belgium.
3) In Section 4 (Research Approach), a focus group was organized to analyze and provide thoughts about the synchromodality concept and possible implementation. The conclusions obtained from this approach appear to be fairly obvious and as such not necessarily be of much benefit to the field. At best, this approach may be useful only as a preliminary study to identify the main areas of concern to practitioners.
Adding an additional and different approach (perhaps using an experimental design, or even a survey) may be able to garner more useful and novel insights that can strengthen the paper’s conclusions. An alternative is to conduct a deep case study of a few specific transportation routes to examine the relationship between synchromodality and sustainability.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor language issues exist throughout the text that need correction. For example, from Line 193 to Line 196:
“In the cultural issue, [17] keep on the line that synchromodality is one of the main topics in discussions about sustainable transport logistics, however, the stakeholder's conscience on it needs to be strengthened. Also, more than collaboration, the involved has to participate in the process of a mental shift to ensure the necessary freedom for fulfilling a-modal transport services [12].”
This type of clumsy writing makes it difficult to read and to understand the text, and is found at multiple locations in the paper.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript. Please find the detailed responses attached and the corresponding revisions/corrections highlighted/in track changes in the re-submitted files.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
