Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Shifts in FGM/C Practice in Sudan: Communities' Perspectives and Drivers  
 
Version: 1 Date: 03 Jul 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)?  
 
Yes - there is a clear objective  
 
 
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls  and analysis protocols) appropriate for 
the objective?  
 
Yes - the approach is appropriate  
 
 
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with technical rigor to allow 
confidence in the results?  
 
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropr iately  
 
 
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 interpretat ion is reasonable  
 
 
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Is the current version of this work technically 
sound? If not, can revisions be made to make the work technically sound?  
 
Yes - current version is technically sound  
 
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
 
GENERAL COMMENT S: This is a very well done and reported study. The authors have 
mastery of the subject through adequate literature review and have used this knowledge to be 
very focused on the themes that they chose to explore. This is very important because, given 
the fluid nature of qualitative studies the tendency to veer off the important themes is always 
high. The small shortfall is that many other emerging themes could have been left out since 
there was little room to explore further.  
 
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
 
Just check editorial errors, there are some few.  
 
 
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:  
 
None  
 
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.  
 
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 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, fees, 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 
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, writ e '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 uti lized for t hese reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publication of their comments online under a Creat ive Commons Attributio n 
License attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for  completing the 
review within a specified timeframe. Hon oraria 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 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 Acc ess Creative 
Commo ns 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 in cluded as 
confidential comments to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal