Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Spanish Validation of Female Condom Attitude Scale and Female Condom Use in  Colombian Young Women  
 
Version: 1 Date: 27 Mar 2019  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:  
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one or several 
testable research que stions? (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?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
EXECUTION - Are t he experiments and analyses performed with sufficient technical rigor to 
allow confidence in the results?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?  
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been use d in the study  
 
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not 
overstated?  
No - there are minor issues  
 
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Has the author addressed your concerns sufficiently 
for you to now recommend  the work as a technically sound contribution? If not, can further 
revisions be made to make the work technically sound?  
No - manuscript has some fundamental flaw(s)  
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
GENERAL COMMENTS: My sole concern originally was in relation to the back translation 
process, and the authors have challenged this, citing evidence that back translation can be 
somewhat problematic, and explaining that they favour their expert panel approa ch.  I do not 
share that view.  I agree that back translations can be a problem, and do sometimes produce 
linguistically awkward versions of the text in measures, BUT this is often because back 
translations are not always carried out by individuals with su bject specialist translation expertise.  
Furthermore, I think that the best advice on this topic comes from the World Health 
Organisation, who recommend an expert panel FOLLOWED BY a back translation as an 
additional step.   
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
I still feel that the translation issue could be an impediment to publication in the highest quality 
of journals.  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to 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 comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript 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.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
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 th at 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, eith er 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 t o 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 these reviews. This reviewer has 
agreed to publication of their comments online under a Creative Commo ns 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 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 agree for my report to be made available und er 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 include d as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal