Manuscript writing workshop is held to focus energy into developing scientific publications

December 13th, 2016

Reaching the wider scientific community through publishing papers in reputable journals is an important way of sharing knowledge. To facilitate this, the project team convened a manuscript writing workshop from 4-12 December 2016 at the Royal City Hotel in Kisumu, Kenya.

The workshop was a highly successful event. It brought together the team members and allowed for focused time and input to be channelled into the development of further publications. The project’s four PhD students and one Master’s student attended the workshop, along with the Principal Investigator, the Co-PI, supervisors, researchers and the project secretariat.

The objective of the workshop was to review and modify the draft manuscripts in readiness for submission to the reputable journals for publication. By the time of the workshop in December 2016, three papers had already been published; four (4) more manuscripts had either been submitted or were under review; eight (8) were at a substantially developed stage and were therefore prioritised during the workshop; and nine (9) other manuscripts had been proposed for later development.

The papers already published prior to the workshop were:

• Mutua, E, N., Bukachi, S. A., Bett, B. K., Estambale, B. A. and Nyamongo, I. K. (2016). Lay knowledge and management of malaria in Baringo County, Kenya. Malar J (2016) 15:486. DOI 10.1186/s12936-016-1542-9.
• Ochieng, A. O., Nanyingi, M. O., Kipruto, E., Ondiba, I. M., Amimo, F. A., Oludhe, C., Olago, D. O., Nyamongo, I. K. and Estambale, B. A. (2016). Ecological niche modelling of Rift Valley fever virus vectors in Baringo, Kenya. Infection Ecology and Epidemiology 2016, 6: 32322. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/iee.v6.32322
• Omondi C.O et al (2016). Efficacy of three rapid diagnostic test kits in the diagnosis of Plasmodium species infections among primary school children in Baringo County, Kenya. (Accepted for publication by Open Journal of Clinical Diagnostics (OJCD).

The publication of these three papers provided impetus for the preparation and submission of more manuscripts. By the end of the workshop, the following had been achieved:

• five manuscripts had been submitted to different journals for consideration;
• five manuscripts were at an advanced stage of completion.

Team members at the manuscript writing workshop