Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Modern contraceptive methods knowledge and practice among blind and deaf women in 
Ethiopia. A cross -sectional survey  
 
Version: 1 Date: 23 Jul 2019  
 
Reviewer: Reviewer 2  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:  
 
OBJECTIVE - Full r esearch articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one or several 
testable research questions? (Brief or other article types: is there a clear objective?)  
Yes - there is a clear objective  
 
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and a nalysis protocols) appropriate for the 
objective?  
Yes - the approach is appropriate  
 
EXECUTION - Are the 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?  
No - there are issues with the statistics 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?  
Probably - with minor revisi ons 
 
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:  
 
GENERAL COMMENTS: Although the manuscript has improved considerably, the authors did 
not attend to all the concerns, no reasons were given. Some changes were made.  
 
REQUESTED REVISIONS:  
Authors have just added new Table 2.  
Change the question "Did you remember the age of menarche?" to "Knows age of menarche"  
 
From which Table did you write the section "Prevalence of sexual and reproductive health 
related problems" ? These findings must be reported in a Table.  
 
Page 12 Line 36  and 39: What is a "syndromes of sexually transmitted infections" "?  
 
Page 12 line 46 -60 is not shown in any Table.  
 
Table 4: Under the multi -column "Use of the contraceptive method", delete No and Total but add 
the percentage Yes.  
 
Qualitative results are  still presented in the discussion. Authors should present all results in the 
results section and refer to the results by paraphrasing or summarising important ones in the 
discussion.  
 
The Authors declined the suggestion to carry out multivariate compariso n of deaf/blind just as 
they did in the descriptives.  
 
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:  
nil 
 
 
Are the methods appro priate 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 conclusion s 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 ad ditional 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 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 appl ying 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 financi al 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 be low. 
 
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 Commons Attribution License 
attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for completing t he 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 
includin g 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 Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://cr eativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be included as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal