## 1 Introduction  
Intimate partner violence (IPV) corresponds to any behavior and conduct a person exerts against the partner that inflicts physical, psychological, or sexual harm [1]. Globally, around 30% of women are physically or sexually abused by a partner [2, 3]. Considering IPV's global diffusion, cultural factors must be taken into account when addressing this phenomenon. In fact, culture can play a key role in increasing or decreasing the risk of IPV and its associated outcomes, for example, by legitimizing violence in intimate relationships and by attributing a passive role to women [4, 5, 6].  
Experiencing IPV contributes to the development of PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide attempts [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. In addition, IPV survivors can experience another kind of victimization: Stigma [14]. Stigma is \"a multileveled term alternately representing the cues or marks that signal stereotypes and prejudice, and the rubric representing the overall stereotypical and prejudicial process\" [15] (p. 51). Consequently, it can be considered an umbrella term that includes stereotypes, prejudices, and discriminatory behaviors against a group of individuals [16, 17, 18]. Stereotypes have been defined as negative beliefs about a group of people [19], while the term prejudice refers to the emotional response that results from the acceptance of a stereotype [15, 19, 20]. Lastly, the behavioral implication of prejudice corresponds to discrimination [15, 19, 20]. Most research in the field has focused on sigma toward mental health, e.g., [21; 22]. However, stigma affects different social groups, including IPV survivors [14; 23; 24].  
Previous research has distinguished between public and self-sigma [15; 19; 20]. On the one hand, public stigma \"comprises reactions of the general public towards a group based on stigma about that group\" [25] (p. 530). Public stigma leads to the experience of everyday discrimination, ostracism, and professional inaction [26]. Regarding IPV survivors, they can experience victim-blaming attitudes--when the survivor is blamed for the violence she has been subjected to [27]--and secondary victimization--which corresponds to victim-blaming conducts and attitudes acted out by community service providers that cause additional trauma for survivors [28]. Consequently, public stigma can affect the help-seeking process of IPV survivors [14]. In addition to this, same-sex couples may face a wide range of specific prejudices, stereotypes, and negative feelings toward homosexuality--homophobia [29; 30; 31; 32].  
On the other hand, self-sigma is described as \"the reactions of individuals who belong to a stigmatized group and turn the stigmatizing attitudes against themselves\" [25] (p. 531). Experiencing this type of stigma results in feelings of shame and blame [25; 33; 34]. These feelings can affect the help-seeking process [25] and people's self-esteem and self-efficacy [25; 35].  
The present systematic review aims to investigate stigma toward female IPV survivors based on the conceptualization of stigma mentioned above. Specifically, the research questions are the following: What is the state-of-the-art stigma against IPV survivors and its effects on them? What are the most widely used measures and assessment techniques implemented in the literature to address this issue?