We recently caught up with CONNECTED member Oladapo Folarin, and were delighted to hear that he has published his Review Of Rice Viruses In Nigeria in the African Journal of Agriculture and Allied Sciences (AJAAS).

The review talks about the findings of a project he worked on, which focused on certain rice viruses in Abuja, Nigeria (whose findings were previously published in two journals). We asked him how the training and mentorship he received through his membership of CONNECTED was of benefit when working towards publication.

“CONNECTED gave me the opportunity to be trained in scientific writing with Scriptoria, through a training voucher I was awarded (amongst several others I have benefitted from) and as well through the Scientific Publication Mentoring Scheme. This helped to further develop my writing skills and get published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

He also worked with the late and much missed Prof. Simon Leather, who suggested adding some details to the manuscript which helped to flesh out the review. Prof. Leather also shared some guidance on scientific writing, which helped shape the review for publication.

We asked Oladapo what message he would have for other researchers who would like to achieve similar success in publication, and he said:

“Keep reading, keep writing, think critically, collaborate, share your write-up with colleagues to proofread and critique, and don’t be discouraged by reviewers comments.”

There is currently a training opportunity available for CONNECTED Members who would like to master the skill of writing successful grant applications. We still have plenty of room on our Scriptoria two-day workshop in June, so please apply now if interested!