Writing for publication: institutional support provides an enabling environment.
BACKGROUND
Due to the excessive service delivery loads in public hospitals supported by academic institutions in developing environments, researchers at these institutions have little time to develop scientific writing skills or to write up their research. It is imperative to expand the writing skills of researchers and train the next generation of health sciences academics in order to disseminate research findings. This study reports on the implementation of approaches for writing and publication and the extent of support to staff suffering from the overload of service delivery and of heavy teaching duties.


METHODS
Workshops in scientific writing and writing retreats were initiated and were offered to all staff.


RESULTS
Feedback from participants of the writing skills workshops indicated that the workshops provided an injection of confidence and proficiency. Protected writing time resulted in 132 papers submitted to journals and 95 in preparation from 230 participants of the writing retreats over a two year period. Staff commended the off-site, collegial environment, which also supported future collaboration with new-found colleagues.


CONCLUSIONS
This enabling environment facilitates not only the development of writing skills per se, but also the dissemination of the generated scientific knowledge. In addition, the training in writing skills of this generation will be of value in the training of future cohorts in countries with similar health care deliverables.
Health Sciences Research Office, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Beverley.kramer@wits.ac.za.
Beverley
B
Kramer
Health Sciences Research Office, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Elena
E
Libhaber
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008503:Medical Staff; D011643:Publishing; D012106:Research; D013019:South Africa; D013192:Staff Development; D014146:Training Support; D016526:Workload; D014956:Writing
Scientific writing; Writing retreats; Writing skills; Writing workshops