The Annals of African surgery editorial team led by the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Kigera, organized an author’s workshop in Eldoret on 7th April, 2018. The event started at 11.00am and ended at 4.00pm on the chilly Saturday. There were 45 attendees: residents (orthopedics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology) Medical officers, Interns and 4 medical students. The faculty consisted of; Dr James Kigera (Editor in Chief), Dr Bahaty Riogi (Associate Editor), Dr Phillip Maseghe (Assistant Editor) and Ms Liza Kariuki (Intern).
The theme of the workshop was: Converting Your Thesis into Manuscript. Among the topics covered were; planning your article, the general structure of the article, the process of writing, peer review process, ethical issues and promoting the article. The day culminated in group activities where the audience was guided through converting their thesis into manuscripts as well as refining the manuscripts that were already prepared. After this the session ended with a live demonstration on how to submit the manuscripts into ScholarOne system.
Fifteen manuscripts were edited by the participants. The goal of the exercise was to have the manuscripts ready to be submitted and considered for publication. The participants were enthusiastic about the day’s activities and looked forward to having workshops regularly. During the question and answer session, the main topics discussed were; the type of articles accepted, the funding of the articles as well as the waiting period for processing the manuscripts.