Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Shifts in FGM/C Practice in Sudan: Communities' Perspectives and Drivers  
 
Version: 2 Date: 20 Sep 2019  
 
Reviewer: Nazar Shabila  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Thank you very much for responding well to my earlier comments.  
 
I have a couple of additional comment;  
 
Thanks for providing the participants' sociodemographic characteristics. However, including 
these detailed characteristics for each  participant individually within the quotes in the results 
section might reveal the identity of the participants. Please make sure that you do not include 
more than 2 identifications in each quote.  
 
Please provide an appropriate title and number to the Tab le of sociodemographic 
characteristics and cite it in the text.  
 
You might change the format of the table to have the participants' type (mothers, 
granmodthers, girls, fathers) in columns and the sociodemographic characteristics (age, 
education, occupation)  in rows.  
 
Thanks for including the data collection guides as attachments. Please include them as 
Additional file 1 according to the journal's instructions.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
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 t he authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Needs some language corrections before being published  
 
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, f ees, funding, or 
salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from 
the publicati on of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2.  Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation t hat 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 currentl y 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 oth er 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  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understan d that my name will be 
included on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted f or 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 license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand th at 
any comments which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be in cluded as 
confidential comments to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal