Reviewer ’s report  
Title: Knowledge of Cervical Cancer and Pap Smears in Uyghur Women from Xinjiang, C hina 
 
Version: 0 Date: 09 Feb 2017  
 
Reviewer: Sarah Feldman  
 
Reviewer's report:  
This manuscript is a well done, interesting survey of knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer 
among women in a remote region of China.  
The paper is well conceived and well explained a nd documents clearly an important barrier to 
cervical cancer prevention among a specific subset of poor and uneducated women.  
 
My main comments are minor corrections of the written English which is mostly clear, but could 
benefit from a careful editing to make sure that tense and grammar and meaning are always 
correct.  
 
Several other minor comments:  
In the abstract:  
1. the Results section have some grammatical errors that need correction  
2. The conclusion does not truly follow from the results. I think it should read: Uyghur women 
in China have poor knowledge of cervical cancer and HPV infection, which is associated 
with low household income and low educational levels. Education via TV and  health care 
providers may improve compliance with  programs aimed at cervical cancer prevention and 
treatment.  
3. p. 7 rough screening should be changed to estimates  
4. p. 8 line 2 change the word "the" to "an" and "of" to "around"  
5. p.9  change "else we re include" to " "and the remainder were:"  
6. p.10 line 3 patients "had" paps (not "did"  
7. p.10 line 5 change "performed" to "undergone"  
8. p.10 check the bottom paragraph for multiple small preposition changes -- change "about" to 
"of", "in" to "of" and s creen "for' cervical cancer  
9. p. 11 line 1 omit "the"  
10. p.11 second paragraph the percentage of patients "who"...  
11. p. 11 the last paragraph is confusing. I don't understand what you mean by "Women who 
knew the symptoms of cervical cancer and who had d one a Pap smear before showed a 
linear decline after 21 years old" Please clarify  
12. p. 12 What do you mean by " this difference was not obvious in the high -income group  
p. 13 There are many word changes and edits that could be made on page 13 to improve the 
English. If you would like me to edit this in more detail I would need a copy I can correct.  
p. 14 second paragraph I think you want to say "less likely" instead of "more"  
 
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.  
Unable to assess  
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the author s. 
No 
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 edito rs. 
I recommend additional statistical review  
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
Not suitable for publication unless extensively edited  
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of c ompeting 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 rel ating 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 interes ts? 
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.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understand that my name will be included 
on my report to the authors a nd, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY li cense ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review p olicy of the journal