Research on the Impact of Digital Finance on the Industrial Structure Upgrading of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the Perspective of R&D Innovation
, Ziqian Zhao 1,*, Wenwen Shen 2,*, Jianqun Zhang 3, Yuehong Kong 4 and Valentina Boamah 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article entitled “Research on the Impact of Digital Finance on the Industrial Structure Upgrading of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the Perspective of R&D Innovation” is written well and according to the journal's scope. It is publishable after addressing the following comments.
1. Many background sentences have been written in the abstract. I suggest starting abstract directly from the main objectives of the study.
2. Please remove the structure of the article from the introduction section.
3. I suggest reading the following literature that emphasizes digital finance and economic growth, and incorporating it in the introduction section.
[1] Impact of digital finance on financial inclusion and stability
4. Each result must have to compare with previously published studies.
5. In the last policy implication i.e., “Pay attention to R&D innovation and improve the level of R&D innovation. Strengthen the training of talents, formulate relevant talent incentive policies, and
6. improve the regional R&D innovation capacity” I refer to the given study [3] regarding talent to improve the regional R&D innovation capacity. i.e., “Pay attention to R&D innovation and improve the level of R&D innovation. “Strengthen the training of talents [2], formulate relevant talent incentive policies, and
improve the regional R&D innovation capacity.”
[2] Zhu Min, Yang Hui, Yuan Haidong.Talent internationalization and OFDI of China[J].Studies in Science of Science, 2019, 37 (02): 245-253. Doi:10.16192/j.cnki.1003-2053.2019.02.011.
6. What could be the possible recommendations for future studies? You must have to write at the end conclusion section.
Author Response
Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions. According to your proposal, we have revised the paper, to get your approval.
Point 1: Many background sentences have been written in the abstract. I suggest starting abstract directly from the main objectives of the study.
Response 1: Thank you for your suggestion. We removed the "As one of the "three strategies" industrial structure upgrading." from the abstract and started the abstract directly from the main objectives of the study. Please see Line 12.
Point 2: Please remove the structure of the article from the introduction section.
Response 2: Thank you for your suggestion. We removed the structure of the article from the introduction section. Please see Line 65-69.
Point 3: I suggest reading the following literature that emphasizes digital finance and economic growth, and incorporating it in the introduction section.
[1] Impact of digital finance on financial inclusion and stability
Response 3: Your proposal is very good. We have added literature emphasizing digital finance and economic growth in the introduction section. Please see Lines 47-49.
Point 4: Each result must have to compare with previously published studies.
Response 4: Thank you for your recommendation. We have compared each result to previous studies in the conclusion section. Please see Lines 416-419+427-429+438-440.
Point 5. In the last policy implication i.e., “Pay attention to R&D innovation and improve the level of R&D innovation. Strengthen the training of talents, formulate relevant talent incentive policies, and
Point 6. improve the regional R&D innovation capacity” I refer to the given study [3] regarding talent to improve the regional R&D innovation capacity. i.e., “Pay attention to R&D innovation and improve the level of R&D innovation. “Strengthen the training of talents [2], formulate relevant talent incentive policies, and improve the regional R&D innovation capacity.”
[2] Zhu Min, Yang Hui, Yuan Haidong.Talent internationalization and OFDI of China[J].Studies in Science of Science, 2019, 37 (02): 245-253. Doi:10.16192/j.cnki.1003-2053.2019.02.011.
Response 5 and 6: Your proposal is very good. We have added reference [2] to the last suggestion and revised it to "Strengthen the training of talents [42], formulate relevant talent incentive policies, and improve the regional R&D innovation capacity." Please see Line 478.
Point 7. What could be the possible recommendations for future studies? You must have to write at the end conclusion section.
Response 7: Thank you for your suggestion. We have added possible suggestions for future research at the end conclusion section. Please see Line 493-497.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The existing literature on digital finance, R&D innovation, and industrial structure upgrading mostly focuses on any two of the above three, mostly on global issues, and there are few studies on the relationship between digital finance and industrial structure upgrading with R&D innovation as a mediating variable, which is not conducive to the coordinated development of society. Therefore, this paper adopts benchmark regression and mediating effect models to study the impact of digital finance on industrial structure upgrading in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the perspective of R&D innovation, using R&D innovation as a mediating variable. This study overcomes the above problems. It has some theoretical and practical implications. However, the following problems still need to be improved：
1. In the introduction section, line 62, "The YREB stretches across three parts of China's east, west, and east." is incorrect and should be revised.
2. In the introduction section, the Taiwan province in Figure 1 is not included in the study of this paper, but its color is the same as the color of the province studied, which can easily cause misunderstanding. It is suggested that the picture in be made perfect.
3. In the Interpreted Variable section, lines 186 to 187 are semantically repetitive, and it is recommended to rewrite and double-check the entire text to revise similar issues.
4. In lines 189 to 190, does the “12” at the end of the sentence “At the same time, the role of the secondary industry can not be ignored12.” have a special meaning and an explanation is suggested.
5. In the Core Explanatory Variables section, lines 211 to 218 are suggested to the author in three parts.
Based on the above comments, it is recommended to review carefully after careful revision.
Author Response
Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your valuable comments and suggestions. According to your proposal, we have revised the paper, to get your approval.
Point 1: In the introduction section, line 62, "The YREB stretches across three parts of China's east, west, and east." is incorrect and should be revised.
Response 1: Thank you for your suggestion. This is an error in our translation, and we have modified it to "The YREB stretches across three parts of China's east, center, and west." Please see Line 60-61.
Point 2: In the introduction section, the Taiwan province in Figure 1 is not included in the study of this paper, but its color is the same as the color of the province studied, which can easily cause misunderstanding. It is suggested that the picture in be made perfect.
Response 2: Thank you for your suggestion. This is because we made an error when outputting the document to pdf format. The image was deformed, and the original picture is as follows:
Please see it in the attachment.
Point 3: In the Interpreted Variable section, lines 186 to 187 are semantically repetitive, and it is recommended to rewrite and double-check the entire text to revise similar issues.
Response 3: Thank you for your suggestion. This is an error in our translation, and we have corrected it. Please see Lines 176-177.
Point 4: In lines 189 to 190, does the "12" at the end of the sentence "At the same time, the role of the secondary industry can not be ignored12." have a special meaning and an explanation is suggested.
Response 4: Thank you for your recommendation. The "12" stands for the 12th reference, which has been revised as "In contrast, the role of the secondary industry can not be ignored [13]." Please see Line 184.
Point 5. In the Core Explanatory Variables section, lines 211 to 218 are suggested to the author in three parts.
Response 5: Your proposal is very good. We have divided this paragraph into three parts. Please see Lines 201-209.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have addressed all previous comments, and now article is ready to be published in the journal
Reviewer 2 Report
i am ok with the revision.
