Sponsorship
The retreat was jointly sponsored by: The Blantyre Institute of Community Outreach (BICO); the
African Journals Partnership Project (AJPP); the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in
Africa (CARTA) and the Africa Center of Public Health and Herbal Medicine (ACEPHEM) of the
University of Malawi.
Host journal
The workshop was hosted by the Malawi Medical Journal (MMJ).Workshop location and Duration
The workshop was held at Lakeview Place Lodge at Makawa, Mangochi, Malawi. Participants were
accommodated at the venue with some at Mpale Cultural Village. The workshop was run from 17 to
23 rd March 2021.
List of attendees
A total of 27 attendees participated, 20 fellows, and 7 faculty. The full list is presented in appendix 1.
Workshop Purpose and Learning objectives
The following were the workshop purpose and objectives:
Purpose: The workshop was designed to cover all aspects of academic writing, converting project
reports, dissertations, and theses into a publishable manuscript. It was meant to provide participants
with the skills to produce publishable manuscripts that are ready for submission in a reputable journal.
All facilitators agreed that the workshop was a worthwhile exercise with participants string enthusiasm
from the first day of the workshop. There was an active engagement between participants and facilitators
throughout the course of the program. Further, all participants worked to have their final manuscript
submitted by the closure of the workshop.
The facilitators also recognized the critical importance of the immediate feedback provided to
participants after submission of specific assignments. This was also cemented by the feedback from
participant representatives who spoke at the end of the workshop.
The team further agreed that the workshop period was appropriate as it allowed a substantive
discussion on a particular subject and also provided protected time to write manuscripts.
Reflecting on future offerings
It was also noted that we had more submissions than we could take in a single session. Facilitators
therefore suggested that if resources allow, it will be useful to support a second retreat to cater for
those who applied and were left out because of space.
Facilitators further agreed that future workshops must consider the facilitator/participant ratio to
enhance effective communication and support.
Furthermore, facilitator agreed that participants to similar workshops should be given timelines for
submission of the final manuscript to the workshop organizers.
It was also agreed that manuscripts from the workshop were to receive first review by facilitators and
a second final review before publication in a special issue by the Malawi Medical Journal for
postgraduate students. The reviewers used author guidelines issued by Malawi Medical Journal.