Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Relationship Between Women’s Decision-Making Power Over Their Own
Health Care and Use of Modern Contraception in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo: A Cross-Sectional Secondary Data Analysis
Version: 
2 
Date: 
01 Apr 2021
Reviewer's report:
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS: 
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one
or several testable research questions? (Brief or other article types: is there a
clear objective?)
No - there are major issues
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols)
appropriate for the objective?
No - there are major issues
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with sufficient
technical rigor to allow confidence in the results?
No - there are major issues
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
No - there are issues with the statistics in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results
reasonable and not overstated?
No - there are major issues
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Has the author addressed your
concerns sufficiently for you to now recommend the work as a technically sound
contribution? If not, can further revisions be made to make the work technically
sound?
Maybe - with major revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS: 
GENERAL COMMENTS: The manuscript has not changed much. Authors have
not responded to key recommendations from the first review. Despite taking
time and space to outline variables associated with uptake of FP, they insist on
linking use of FP to decision making which is only one of the many variables
outlined. The DHS results used are over 8 years old. The situation could be
different right now given the timelines. Despite the study being an analysis of
historical data from DHS, authors insist that it is a cross-sectional survey.
REQUESTED REVISIONS: 
The authors should re-conceptualize the study to focus on determinants of
contraceptive uptake of which decision making ability is just one. The current
statistical analysis has elucidated the various determinants. If more recent DHS
or parts of it thereof cannot be found and used for the analysis then it should be
indicated in the weaknesses of the study that the data is old and may not give a
true picture of the current situation. Study methodology should be revised.
Authors have not undertaken a cross-sectional survey.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS: 
None
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Yes