Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-01463-0 (2020)

Reviewer’ s report
Title: Validation of the moroccan arabic version of the low anterior resection syndrome score
Version: 0Date: 27 Jul 2020
Reviewer: Yassine Eid
Reviewer's report:
This study deals with the validation of the LARS score in arabic. The study is conducted with a
good methodology and with an adequate statistical method.Nevertheless, I have a few minor remarks that require some modification:- Could you please improve the English of the manuscript and have it proofread by a nativeenglish speaker.- introduction : You did not mention the fact that there is not one Arabic language but severaldifferent dialects depending on the geographical areas.On reading the Arabic language version of your translation, it appears that you have opted for anArabic-Moroccan version and not a literary Arabic version especially since you specify in themethod section that not being able to speak Arabic-Moroccan was an exclusion criterion. I thinkthat this nuance is important to clarify in the introduction, even if it might make it a little moredifficult for the reader to understand.- methods : Why did you only wait 6 months since the stoma was closed? As you know, the LARSscore stabilises after the first year after stoma closure.- methods : Would the use of an interviewer for data collection not interfere with what patientsmight have expressed on their own in front of a paper questionnaire? Was an alternative approachpossible (at the risk of lowering the artificially increased response rate due to third party data
collection)? I imagine that the illiteracy rate is responsible for this method as you specify in the
discussion section. Could you add a few words in the method section to clarify the reasons foryour choice of this collection method.- discussion : I disagree with the last paragraph because I do not think that the translation intoMoroccan Arabic of the LARS score can be generalized to all patients in the Arab world becauseof the semantic variability due to the many dialects. An interesting way forward would be tovalidate the LARS score in literary Arabic (although this may not be possible for all patients asonly literate patients who have learned literary Arabic will be able to understand the differentelements of this score). Could you modify your last paragraph to include this literary nuance?- Disucssion : Could you explain in a few sentences the contribution of LARS score validation inArabic to your routine clinical practice?
Publons Reviewer Recognition. Springer Nature can send verification of this review directly to
Publons (a subsidiary of Clarivate Analytics). If you would like to take advantage of this service,please click on the “Yes” option below. Your name, email address, title of the reviewed
manuscript, name of the journal, and date of your review submission (the “Review Data”) will
then be transmitted to Publons upon publication of the manuscript. If you have already registered
at Publons, they will notify you of the receipt of this review and update your profile as per yoursettings and their policy. If you are not registered with Publons, you will receive an email fromthem asking you to register in order for them to be able to recognize your review on your newprofile page. Publons may use the Review Data to generate derivative metadata for the benefit ofPublons and you as a reviewer, carefully considering the sensitivity of such information. Forexample, Publons may verify your record as a reviewer by updating your profile published on itswebservice if you have registered for such service or help editors to identify candidate reviewers.Please find the details of processing in Publons’ privacy policy https://publons.com/about/terms
Yes
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 thismanuscript, 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 interestsReviewer Publication Consent. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access
Creative Commons CC-BY License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) if this manu-script is accepted for publication. Any comments that I do not wish to be included in the publishedreport have been included as confidential comments to the editor, which will not be published.Ifyou are not happy for us to publish this report, please contact the editorial office before completingthe review.If you wish, you can include your name in your published report. Please note you mustdecide whether to include your name at the start of the process and confirm this decision wheneverprompted. If you change your decision later, we will not be able to publish your name.
I agree to the terms of the CC-BY 4.0 license; please publish my name with my report.
Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use of appropriate
controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence presented?
YesAre the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?YesIs the presentation of the work clear?YesAre the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free from apparent
manipulation?
Yes