Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Spatial distribution and associated factors’ of Early Marriage among
Reproductive age women in Ethiopia: A Secondary Data Analysis of Ethiopian
Demographic and Health Survey 2016.
Version: 
0 
Date: 
07 May 2020
Reviewer's report:
Major changes suggested:
* 
Line 77- Where the hypothesis of the study is mentioned it needs to be
mentioned more in a crisp manner. You don't need to mention all the variables in
the hypothesis of the study. That can come in the methodology section. It needs
to be reframed!
* 
Line 118- Variables need to be better defined -Media exposure in Table 1 is
mentioned as No media exposure or has media exposure. What does the media
exposure comprise of? Newspapers, TV, radio etc…May be good to define the
options in the methodology section? 
* 
How variable 'Wealth index' was constructed and categorised into poorest,
middle and richest need to explain in the methodology section. 
* 
Authors should highlight the rationale in methodology for choosing Arc GIS
10.7 software among all the other available software for mapping.
* 
Line 163- Not near to it is 'Nearly three-fourth'. It is mentioned that 77.90% of
the participants had NO exposure to mass media whereas the results Table 1 are
opposite!! Need to cross-check the data! 
Results from Table 1 need to be
explained better!
* 
Line 203-204: "Women's in age group of 20-34 and 35-49 decreased by 61%
(AOR =0.39; 95%CI: 0.30,0.51) as compared to age group of women 15 to 19."
This statement shows that women in younger age group had more likelihood of
early marriage compared to women at older age group. Any plausible
reason/explanation? This finding was not discussed anywhere in the paper.
* 
Why Tigray region was selected as index/reference cluster needs to be
explained?
* 
The possible reasons for geographical variations need to be elaborated in
greater detail. For this, the author can ideally use existing secondary
data/information to explain why regional variations are so profound. This would
help readers to understand the contextual insights behind such variations.
* 
Line 217-218- It is better to start the discussion section with summary of what
you found in the study than the strength as that can go in the strength and
limitation section of the study.
* 
Reference must be added to sentences in Line 61-62, 65-66, 139, 235 and 243-
245.
* 
Conclusion- Is too short and needs more suggestions from the authors on the
way forward?
* 
Language editing is required.
Other changes suggested:
Abstract
* 
Method: No need to give link of EDHS in the method section
* 
Conclusion: Line 45- not 'was' it 'is' important
Background
* 
Line 64- not 'a' marriage its marriage of girls…
* 
Line 71- not tradition its 'traditional practice'
* 
Line 73- So far different studies in Ethiopia 'have been' done to identify….
* 
Line 74- 'But', the spatial pattern of early marriage 'has not been' done before.
* 
Line 76- 'traditional interventions'
* 
Line 77: 'The' is written 2 times. Also, spelling of 'between' is wrong.
* 
Line 78: The spelling of independent has been wrongly written as indeprent.
* 
Line 78- 'including' age ……
* 
Line 81- Is it where or should it be 'whether'?
* 
Line 22-27 and Line 83-88: The content is repetitive.
* 
Line 85- and its associated factors that are important for the government…..
Method
* 
Line 99-No need to give the link of the EDHS website on in the method that
can go as a reference
* 
Line 103- information 'was' from a….
* 
Line 107-109- The content is repetitive! Its needs to be rephrased 
* 
Line 139: What is 'EA'. This is not described anywhere in the article.
* 
Line 151. Replace "then" with "Firstly".
* 
Line 152- not 'analytical studies' its statistical analysis was done…
* 
Line 156- CI 'were' also determined
Results
* 
Line 162- were 'in the' rural areas
* 
Line 180 Region Amhara is included in both high proportion and less risk area.
* 
Line 203 write "had lesser chance" instead of were decrease.
* 
Line 205- 'Being' should be deleted throughout the sentence!
* 
Line 211- not live its 'living' in Tigray region
Discussion
* 
Line 217- Need to reframe the sentence- Suggestion: The strength of the study
was having used a large dataset from the EDHS survey. Hence it is a nationally
representative sample. 
* 
Line 221- its early marriage of girls not 'early female marriage' 
* 
Line 231-234- Needs to be rephrased not very clear sentences!
* 
Line 234 add "attributed to" before socio-demographic factors.
* 
Line 242- more likely to 'have an' early marriage
* 
Line 243- Addis is misspelled
* 
Line 217-220 and Line 250-253: The content is repetitive.
* 
Line 265 Incorrect spelling of "Thank" and sentence need reframing because
of grammatical error. Author may consider "I would like to thank the EDHS
measure for providing permission to access the data".
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:
Needs some language corrections before being published
Declaration of competing interests
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questions:
1
. 
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salary from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially
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2
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gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now
or in the future?
3
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Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the
content of the manuscript?
4
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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
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6
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paper?
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