Reviewer ’s report  
Title: Pupil's perspectives on Female Genital Cutting abandonme nt in Harari and Somali regions 
of Ethiopia.  
 
Version: 3 Date: 27 Apr 2018  
 
Reviewer: Nazar Shabila  
 
Reviewer's report:  
Thank you for considering my comments and suggestions. Thanks for compr ehensively 
responding to my comments in the response to the reviewer's section.  
 
Some of your responses are very comprehensive and important, but they are not well integrated 
into the manuscript. It will be very useful to integrate your responses to the m anuscript as this 
will make it more clear to the readers. For example, you can better mention your nice and 
detailed response to the following comments in the relevant sections of the manuscript;  
2.1 Selection of the study area  
2.3 The base for selection o f the two schools  
2.4 The random selection of schools  
2.5 The reason for having 16 -22 years old in the primary school in this region.  
2.6 Questionnaire development, validation, and content  
 
At the beginning of page 6, there is no need to repeat the aim of the study under a separate 
section of "Objectives." The aim is already mentioned in the previous section, and the detailed 3 
point objectives can be compiled in one sentence to be merged or to follow the main aim of the 
study.  
Similarly, there is no need to have separate subsections of variables, Bias, and Confounders. The 
contents of these parts can be mentioned with the tool, data collection and data analysis sections 
as relevant.  
 
 
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 y our comments 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 speci fy 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 be ing 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 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 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 accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I a gree 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