Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening Faced by Immigrant Women in Canada: A 
Systematic Scoping Review  
 
Version: 1 Date: 17 Apr 2018  
 
Reviewer: Aisha Lofters  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
This is a well -written paper with the potential for practical impact. The following comments are 
meant to  further strengthen the paper:  
- Table 3 states that studies were included if the study population included ethnic minorities, 
but the introduction focusses exclusively on immigrants  
 
- The following sentence is slightly confusing: The majority of the studi es addressed patients' 
barriers to cervical cancer screening (n=19), eight studies discussed healthcare providers' 
perspectives on screening barriers, and one study included stakeholders' opinions. Does this  
mean that 19 studies included patients' opinion s?  
 
- p 13, line 15, Ontario has patient enrolment models, not inpatient enrolment models  
 
- at that same line, reference 21 is stated as providing healthcare providers' perspectives but it 
is a study that used administrative data. Can the authors clarify wha t is meant by healthcare 
providers perspective in this context? And clarify how admin data studies were dealt with in 
general as far as whose perspective the results were attributed to?  
 
- would rename "communication barriers" to "language barriers" as comm unication implies 
much more than just language  
 
- the term "personal barriers" is pretty vague, could the authors think of a more descriptive 
term? Or even incorporate this section into previous sections? The patient and stakeholder 
perspectives in this sec tion seem to be around attitudes toward screening, although the 
providers perspectives seem to be around health system structure issues.  
 
- p 22, line 12, although I agree that we need research on technologies like self -sampling this 
sentence comes a bit ou t of nowhere. What is the justification for this sentence from the 
paper?  
 
- for your limitations, you may want to specify that you may have missed some French -
Language papers as one of the two official languages, and may have missed papers from 
Quebec whic h has a fair proportion of immigrants  
 
- again, the conclusion talks about ethnic minorities but the paper seems to have been about 
immigrants  
Are the methods approp riate 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 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 statistical review is recommended, please specify 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 lang uage 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 t his 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 applie d 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  
 
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