Review for 10.1186/s12876-019-0967-3 (2019)

Reviewer’s report
Title: Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Manifestations in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Referral Center  
Study
Version: 0 Date: 12 Apr 2018
Reviewer: Zhou Zejian
Reviewer's report:
In this retrospective study, the authors wanted to document the strong prevalence of manifestations of  
the liver, pancreas and biliary tree in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. This topic is novel but  
the application proposed is not so novel. It is difficult for us to understand the conclusions because of  
poor statistical approaches being used and statistical significant differences in respective groups does  
not prove (see Remark 1). Based on the statistical results conducted by the un-precise methods, the  
conclusions  are  overstated  and  unscientific  and  therefore  this  manuscript  does  not  bring  any  
meaningful knowledge. And beyond that, the following are furthermore detailed modifications and  
questions in this manuscript. Attached, please find referee comments/suggestions on your paper. It  
would be ideal if you could also draft a response to our referees stating what has been rectified in the  
revised copy as this will help speed up the finalization process.
1.The clinical data from this research is summarized as means and standard deviation. However,  
it is hard to obtain statistical significant data through above methods of data analysis. Hence,  
the clinical value of the study is almost meaningless. And the Chi-square test should be applied  
to compare the experimental and the control group.
2.It should be noted that the study scope of manifestations of the liver, pancreas and biliary tree is  
so abroad that the highest association is difficult to distinguish. Due to aforesaid disease also  
can  be  resulted  in  the  side  effects  of  drugs,  especially  the  hepatitis  and  drug-induced  
hepatotoxicity. There is no experimental comparison of the algorithm with previously known  
work, so it is impossible to judge whether the algorithm is an improvement on previous work.  
Further researches and experimental scheme should be conducted.
3.On the other side, more detailed explanation of methodology should be provided. Because of  
the inflammatory bowel disease and/or therapeutics may have an indeterminate influence on the  
patients and may cause the undesirable side effects. Therefore, it's important to take a careful  
observation of IBD development from the beginning. The manuscript ought to reset the criteria  
for inclusion and give more detailed about the criteria.
4.More importantly, this manuscript does not mention that the selected patients had signed the  
informed consent and this study had not been recommended by the ethics committee.
Are the methods appropriate and well described?
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.
No
Does the work include the necessary controls?
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.
No
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.
Unable to assess
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an additional  
statistical review?
If  an  additional  statistical  review  is  recommended,  please  specify  what  aspects  require  further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.
I recommend additional statistical review
Quality of written English
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:
Acceptable
Declaration of competing interests
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation  that  may  in  any  way  gain  or  lose  financially  from  the  publication  of  this  
manuscript, either now or in the future?
2. Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially  
from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?
3. Do  you  hold  or are  you  currently applying  for  any patents  relating  to  the  content  of  the  
manuscript?
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or  
has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?
6. Do you have any non-financial competing interests in relation to this paper?
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' below. If  
your reply is yes to any, please give details below.
I declare that I have no competing interests
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I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal