Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practices of female genital  mutilation and cutting  
(FGM/C) among United Arab Emirates population  
 
Version: 1 Date: 12 Oct 2019  
 
Reviewer: Nazar Shabila  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Thank you very much for considering my comments and suggestions in the revised versio n of 
the manuscript. I can see that the manuscript is significantly improved.  
I have a couple of addition comments;  
 
I am not very happy with the abstract. Most of it is about findings and provides little information 
about the method and conclusion. The co nclusion in the abstract is very short and still mainly 
related to findings. The one on the Conclusion section of the manuscript looks better, so you can 
provide a summary of that in the abstract.  
 
I still can not see a good and reasonable justification fo r conducting this study in UAE in the 
Background section. You can build upon your statement of "the prevalence is not known in 
UAE" and the newspaper issue you mentioned to provide a good justification.  
 
In the statistical analysis section, provide the det ails about logistics regression. You have 
mentioned some details in the Results section, but it is necessary to include the details under 
statistical analysis section.  
 
I prefer to have the text under the implications of the study under the conclusion sect ion rather 
than having a separate sub -section for that.  
 
You may elaborate more on the limitations of the study at the end of Discussion section. You 
already mentioned some aspect, but issues such as representativeness of the study sample of all 
the Ain or  UAE population and generalizability of the findings need to be emphasized.  
 
In the Logistics regression table, please provide the reference and the details of comparison 
group for each variable. For example, instead of 'Religion', you need to write 'Musli ms' and 
provide a reference as 'Non -Muslims' = 1, and so on for the other variables.  
 
References; I think there is no need to provide all these details of doi and pubmed numbers.  
 
The manuscript needs a thorough language editing.    
 
 
 
 
Are the methods appropriate and w ell 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.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional s tatistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
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, 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 fut ure? 
 
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 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 and, if the manuscript is acce pted for publication, my named report  
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I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal