Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Exploring Iranian Women's Perceptions and Experiences Regarding Cervical Cancer -
Preventive Behaviors  
 
Version: 1 Date: 26 Mar 2018  
 
Reviewer: Richard Fielding  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
PBMWH -D-17-00314R1: Exploring Iranian Women's Perceptions and Experiences Regarding 
Cervical Cancer -Preven tive Behaviors  
Thank you for asking me to review this revised manuscript.  
 
The authors have made strong efforts to address my previous concerns with the first draft.  This 
version is a lot clearer.  
There remain a few minor clarifications that could be ma de as listed below:  
 
Methods:  
P6 - II semi structured interviews: - sentence 3: add a comma following "reached"  
Sentence 4: amend to read "After the 17th interview, two subsequent interviews yielded no 
additional information and so sampling was stopped her e." 
Last sentence: delete "…almost…"  
 
Results:  
P8: "Superstitious beliefs and misconceptions about CC"  
Second sentence: Amend to read "believed that nothing could be done to prevent CC…"  
Final quote of this section: amend translation by deleting first " the" before "cervical cancer".  
Theme 2:  Suggest changing the title to "Concepts of preventive behaviour"  
Page 13: opening sentence - amend to read "The concept of preventive behaviour…" (delete final 
"s" from "behaviour") .  
Final sentence (P14): amend to read"…women frequently misunderstood the purpose of pap 
smear as a preventive behaviour and this extended to the idea of screening for latent disease, …"  
P15 first quote: use standard (non -italic) font for "Another participa nt mentioned:"  
P26: Amend sub -heading to: "6. Perceptions of cervical cancer risk".  
P22. "False risk perception". Consider a different heading - these women's perceptions may be 
inaccurate but they are not "false" (fake).  
P26. "Misinformation: Opening sentence - amend to replace "…performed…" with "undergone", 
and later in the same sentence delete "…perform it once more, and did not know they had to…" 
with "undergo it regularly."  
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 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:  
 
Acceptable  
 
  
Decl aration 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 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 yo ur reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare 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 agree for my report to be made available under an Open Acc ess Creative Commons  
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which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments  
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I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal