Fundamentals of Surgical Research Course and Manuscript Writing Workshop

The Annals of African Surgery and the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA) held a full-day workshop on December 3, 2024, at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe. The workshop was organized in partnership with the Surgical Society of Zimbabwe, the Intuitive Foundation, the Association for Academic Surgery, and the East and Central African Journal of Surgery.

The course schedule included four sessions:

• Surgical Research Fundamentals

• How to do it? The nuts and bolts

• Publishing and presenting

• Tips for Success and Best Practices

The sessions featured a distinguished lineup of speakers, including our esteemed editor-in-chief, Dr. James Kigera, and assistant editors, Dr. Michael Mwachiro and Dr. Chalwe Mumba.

Dr. Kigera and Dr. Mwachiro kicked off the workshop by giving an introduction to the course. Dr. Kigera then gave two key presentations: "Why do Surgical Research" in the first session and "Basics of Biostats, Bias, and Confounding" in the second. During the third session, Dr. Mumba gave a presentation on "How to be a good reviewer for a journal." The workshop concluded with Dr. Kigera providing closing remarks and small group instructions.

We express our sincere gratitude to all attendees for their active participation and to our partners for their tremendous assistance in making this workshop a great success.