The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is a global scientific and advocacy organisation dedicated to ensuring an AIDS vaccine for use worldwide. In Africa, IAVI partners with seven research centres who conduct vaccine trials and studies. This research requires extensive medical and scientific writing support, for regulatory submissions and for the publication of data. IAVI and its African partners publish widely in international peer-reviewed publications; however, African authors are underrepresented as first authors. To address this disparity, IAVI created and honed a series of science writing workshops that so far has reached 85 investigators.