Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Menstrual Health and Hygiene among Indigenous Australia n girls and women: Barriers 
and opportunities  
  
Version: 0 Date: 04 Apr 2019  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
Reviewer's report:  
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:  
 
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses a testable research 
question(s) (brief or other article types: is there a clear objective)?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for the 
objective?  
Not sure - key details are missing from the manuscript  
 
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technic al rigor to allow 
confidence in the results?  
N/A - no experiments or analyses  
 
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?  
N/A - there are no statistics in this study  
 
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not 
overstated?  
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable  
 
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically 
sound? If not, can revis ions be made to make the work technically sound?  
Maybe - with major revisions  
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
 
GENERAL COMMENTS: This article is more like a narrative and a review than a systematic 
inquiry that defines research.  
Their review of available litera ture is quite impressive; the attempt to describe a research 
approach in the method of participatory collaboration of researchers and indigenous people is 
encouraging, but there should be a systematic approach to participant selection, which was well -
descr ibed in the methods.  
Their description of the methods needs to be more specific: How were the researchers selected to 
be part of the study group? How many were involved? What method was applied in selecting the  
people interviewed? What guided the discussi on? How were the data extracted and analysed?  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
Objective: The research aim should be clearly stated.  
Methods: Pages 7 &amp;  8, lines 256 -273: The statements seem to fit more into background 
information and study justification than in the methods.  
Methods: You may want to define what yarning circle means and provide the reference and state 
how you identified and selected the yarning circle you engaged. How many were there and what 
was their composition and characteristics? How was the d iscussion or interview conducted? State 
any guiding principles. How were the response and comments documented? How was the 
information or data obtained, extracted, and analysed?  
It may be better to separate the results and discussion sections or properly l abel the section 
'Results and Discussion'.  
 
Note: This reviewer report can be downloaded - see attached pdf file.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments t o 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 commen ts to the 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 specify 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:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing inter ests, 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 financial ly from the publication 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 currently applying for any patents relating to the c ontent 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.  
 
This reviewer has been  recruited by a partner organization, Research Square. Reviewers with 
declared or apparent competing interests are not utilized for t hese reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publication of their comments online under a Creative Commons Attribution License  
attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for  completing the review within 
a specified timeframe. Honoraria for reviews such as this are paid regardless of the reviewer 
recommendation.  
 
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 manu script 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 that any comm ents 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be in cluded as confidential comments 
to the editor s, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal    
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 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 policy of the journal