Authorship Workshop: Translating your thesis into a publication
Aim of the course
The workshop held at Pride inn Hotel, Mombasa, Kenya was organised by the Annals of African Surgery aimed at helping investigators acquire skills and develop strategic means to communicate with the broad scientific community and, in particular, to publish scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. A team of surgeon scientists/educators led discussions on scientific publishing policies, statistical evaluation of data, ethical requirements, and organisation of a manuscript.
Who attended
In attendance were medical students, residents and surgeons who had done some research (dissertation/thesis), and still had difficulties writing up their findings in a publishable manuscript format.
Course outline
The workshop was kicked off by remarks from the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Hassan Saidi. He introduced the faculty and outlined the course content. Sessions included:
Why and what do i want to publish? What do journals publish? Prof. John Tarpley PPT
The anatomy of the scientific article: IMRAD format. Dr. Peter Nthumba PPT
The abstract as a marketing tool and how to spin the best title for your paper Prof. Russel white PPT
Making statistical sense of your data. Prof. Moses Galukande PPT
Writing an effective conclusion and the reference list Dr. James Kigera PPT
Ethical issues in writing: plagiarism, authorship, use of animals/patients, disclosure Prof. Joseph S. Solomkin PPT
Dealing with review decisions; ethical issues in the review process Margaret Tarpley PPT
What do editors and reviewers look for? Edward van Lanen PPT
The participants also engaged in group discussions where editing and transformation of the manuscripts was done. The participants expressed their gratitude. They acknowledged that the workshop was a huge success with some who had manuscripts of up to 100 pages managing to edit them to manuscripts which they submitted to the Annals of Surgery (AAS) editorial team for peer-review and consideration for publication.
Discussion in groups
The workshop came to a close with words from the associate editor, Dr. Kigera who thanked the participants and instructors.He added that the AAS was going to continue encouraging medical professionals to publish their research findings. He concluded by insisting that failure to share your findings (publish) as a medical professional denies others the chance to learn from your work and better their practice. Not to forget that publication is the only valid scientific currency.
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