PONE-D-21-14209

Adolescent Fertility and its Determinants in Kenya: Evidence from Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014.

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. NAOMI MORAA MONARI,

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PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Dear Authors,

I would ask you to revise the paper by following the reviewers' comments and suggestions.

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Partly

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The text is understandable, but before publishing it anywhere, it should be edited for English.

This is an elementary analysis with very little new information. I think the importance of marriage is probably misleading, since I suspect that a great number of these were premarital pregnancies. Also the arguments for the C Index values are not convincing.

Reviewer #2: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this interesting article. As it has been noted, there is a dearth of recent literature exists addressing determinates of adolescents’ fertility in the context of Kenya. I hope my comments would be helpful to increase the quality of your work.

Abstract

• Please be specific on age 15-17 years old, it could be clarified as “current age 15-17 years “

• Add few more Key words which are relevant to your present study.

Background

• Do they have any recent studies on the determinates of fertility in the context of Kenya?

• It is not clear what do you really mean “These factors were varied from country to country and even within the 22 countries disparities still exist”, what sort of inequalities? Need a justification.

• There should be a proper discussion on what are the current research gaps in terms of fertility determinants in Kenya, it seems like jumping to the objectives without proving enough evidence/research gaps, what is the rationale and how this study could be benefited from bridge the gaps, and what would be the contribution of present study- one brief paragraph looking at this should be included.

• This sentese is not clear “Exploring the factors associated with teenage childbearing ensures targeted programs to this vulnerable population sub-group for policy makers and to aid in reducing the teen pregnancy incidence” So have you used the terms “teenage and adolescents” interchangeably?

Methods

• Methods section is clear; however, you may add an abbreviation terms somewhere for the convenience of the reader.

• Dependent variables need to be clearer, particularly, how you have been developed some of the covariates such as wealth index, etc, do they compatible with DHS?

Results:

• For all Tables include the sample size (n=)

• As according to the Table 3, as it has presented the disaggregation of fertility indexes by urban rural, what is the intention of doing so, this seems arbitrary, as this has not mentioned in the objectives.

Discussion

• So, do you mean that even after 20 years of Bledsoe and Cohen, 1993 analysis, still the fertility figures are same? Justify this.

• Discussion and conclusion sections are clear, it would be better to come up with separate section on strengths and limitations.

Acknowledgement

Why the author mentioned as “we”? Do you have any other author contributions?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Gayathri Abeywickrama

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Adolescent Fertility and its Determinants in Kenya: Evidence from Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014.

PONE-D-21-14209R1

Dear Dr.NAOMI MORAA MONARI,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Shah Md Atiqul Haq

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Dear authors,

Your paper is now accepted.

Reviewers' comments: