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How to write a medical case report

  • Related content
  • Peer review
  • Seema Biswas , editor-in-chief, BMJ Case Reports, London, UK ,
  • Oliver Jones , student editor, BMJ Case Reports, London, UK

Two BMJ Case Reports journal editors take you through the process

This article contains...

- Choosing the right patient

- Choosing the right message

- Before you begin - patient consent

- How to write your case report

- How to get published

During medical school, students often come across patients with a unique presentation, an unfamiliar response to treatment, or even an obscure disease. Writing a case report is an excellent way of documenting these findings for the wider medical community—sharing new knowledge that will lead to better and safer patient care.

For many medical students and junior doctors, a case report may be their first attempt at medical writing. A published case report will look impressive on your curriculum vitae, particularly if it is on a topic of your chosen specialty. Publication will be an advantage when applying for foundation year posts and specialty training, and many job applications have points allocated exclusively for publications in peer reviewed journals, including case reports.

The writing of a case report rests on skills that medical students acquire in their medical training, which they use throughout their postgraduate careers: these include history taking, interpretation of clinical signs and symptoms, interpretation of laboratory and imaging results, researching disease aetiology, reviewing medical evidence, and writing in a manner that clearly and effectively communicates with the reader.

If you are considering writing a case report, try to find a senior doctor who can be a supervising coauthor and help you decide whether you have a message worth writing about, that you have chosen the correct journal to submit to (considering the format that the journal requires), that the process is transparent and ethical at all times, and that your patient is not compromised in your writing. Indeed, try to include your patient in the process from the outset, and always gain consent.

A case report is the first line of medical evidence, and over time has become an important medium for sharing new findings (box 1). High quality case reports successfully bring together the various domains of medicine such as physiology, pathology, and anatomy. Using the patient as the focus, case reports provide a clinical “coat peg” on which to hang this knowledge.

Box 1: Notable case reports through the ages

Many case reports have changed the way clinicians view health and disease. For example, in 1861 the French surgeon Pierre Paul Broca reported the case of a dysphasic patient nicknamed “Tan”—owing to his inability to say any other words. After Tan’s death, Broca did an autopsy and discovered a syphilitic lesion in the frontal lobe of the brain, leading to the hypothesis of a speech centre in the brain—later known as Broca’s area. 1 Other notable case reports have documented the discovery of the Bence-Jones protein, 2 the first descriptions of Parkinson’s disease, 3 and AIDS. 4

Choosing the right patient

We can learn from all patients, but choose a patient from whom there is something new to learn. Search the literature and decide whether the topic you want to discuss, whether clinical or non-clinical (a radiological or microbiological finding, for example), has already been well discussed.

Your patient should ideally be someone who is not simply a willing participant in this process but someone who wants their story to be told to educate students, doctors, and other patients. Many journals have an option for patients to contribute to the manuscript.

Choosing the right message

Rare diseases are not in themselves a reason to write up a case, but unusual presentations of a common disease are important to communicate to the medical community. Early or subtle signs and symptoms that are easily missed are important for us to learn from. Indeed, the learning value of your case is the single most important factor in determining whether it is likely to be published.

Have in mind the journal that you want to submit your manuscript to before you begin to write. Your case and the message should fit with the style of the journal, whether a specialist journal, a case reports journal, or a journal that publishes case presentations in different formats. This may include question and answer formats, quizzes, or even interactive online educational formats useful for exam revision—for example, Endgames ( The BMJ ), Epilogue ( Archives of Disease in Childhood ), or Images ( New England Journal of Medicine ). These adapted formats are important, as most of these journals no longer accept case reports written in their traditional format.

Also, be careful in your claims about new diseases and new treatments. Case reports cannot make claims about the efficacy of novel treatments on the basis of individual cases and limited follow-up time. The most important message is a new or novel learning point—that is, the educational message.

Before you begin

Once you have chosen your patient and discussed with them what you would like to write, show them the case report so that they may give informed consent to your manuscript submission and familiarise themselves with the website.

It is important that a patient understands how their case will appear online or in print and that they truly give informed consent. You should do this under the supervision of the senior doctor who is the supervising coauthor of your manuscript; ideally, the senior doctor would obtain consent.

Writing the case report

Case presentation.

Begin with the case presentation (box 2): describe your encounter with the patient, their symptoms, and their signs. You should already have an idea what your take home messages will be. If the journal presentation of the case report allows, you can write these take home messages as bullet points (box 3).

Box 2: Case presentation

Acute pancreatitis and severe hypertriglyceridaemia masking unsuspected underlying diabetic ketoacidosis.

After 48 hours of anorexia, nausea, and non-bloody vomiting at home, the patient presented to her local hospital, where the diagnosis of moderate acute pancreatitis was made, based on an abdominal computed tomogram and ultrasound and serum chemistry. Ongoing symptoms, including left upper quadrant, 7/10 stabbing pain with generalised abdominal cramps, led to her transfer to the closest tertiary hospital for further management.

On admission to the tertiary hospital, the patient was treated as having uncomplicated pancreatitis. Immediate management included intravenous rehydration therapy, antiemetics, and narcotics for pain control with further orders for nothing to be ingested until the patient was re-evaluated. Initial assessment of the patient showed a temperature of 37.3ºC, heart rate 110 beats/min, blood pressure 126/68 mm Hg, respiratory rate 14 breaths/min, and oxygen saturation 98% on room air. She had a normal body habitus and was not in distress; however, she had a moderate amount of abdominal discomfort. Her physical examination showed no xanthalasmas or skin eruptions, nor was a fruity odour detected. Her gastrointestinal examination showed diffuse tenderness, with a soft, non-distended abdomen. Also, no organomegally was noted. Other than tachycardia, her cardiorespiratory examination was unremarkable with the notable absence of tachypnoea.

The patient was previously healthy without any medical history or surgical history. Her medication list was limited to the oral contraceptive pill (ethinyl oestradiol, norgestimate). The patient described only occasional social alcohol consumption (none within the last week) and no binge drinking or recreational drug use in the past. There were no recent surgeries, gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures, or abdominal trauma. She denied fever, chills, rigors, or recent unintended weight loss. There was no history of polyuria or polydipsia.

She did not have any prodromal abdominal symptoms There had been no similar episodes previously. There was no family history of dyslipidaemias, pancreatitis, or gallstones. Her family history was relevant for rectal carcinoma in her paternal grandfather and type 2 diabetes in her maternal grandmother. Six hours after her arrival at the tertiary hospital, and 12 hours from her first presentation and assessment at the local rural hospital, the patient began to decompensate with rapid progression of hypotension, tachycardia, and tachypnoea. The acute decompensation to hypotension and shock was assumed to be due to progression of the pancreatitis with potential infection complicating the pancreatitis. The patient was aggressively rehydrated and started on broad spectrum antibiotics. However, the hypotension failed to respond to fluid resuscitation and there was increased patient distress. She was urgently referred to the intensive care unit for supportive measures and management.

Aboulhosn K, Arnason T. Acute pancreatitis and severe hypertriglyceridaemia masking unsuspected underlying diabetic ketoacidosis. BMJ Case Rep 2013;2013, doi: 10.1136/bcr-2013-200431 .

Box 3: Learning points

Postpartum hellp syndrome and subcapsular liver haematoma.

Subcapsular liver haematoma is a potentially life threatening complication of severe pre-eclampsia and haemolysis, the breakdown of red blood cells; elevated liver enzymes; low platelet count syndrome.

The complication is rare but should be considered with severe upper abdominal pain in obstetric patients, especially in the presence of pre-eclampsia.

Real time ultrasound imaging of the liver is often diagnostic.

Messerschmidt L, Andersen LL, Sorensen MB. Postpartum HELLP syndrome and subcapsular liver haematoma. BMJ Case Rep 2014, doi: 10.1136/bcr-2013-202503 .

You should separate your case presentation section from the investigations and differential diagnoses. The key points to remember to include are your choice of investigations and how they helped you establish a working diagnosis (box 4).

Box 4: Investigations

Unilateral presentation of postpartum cardiomyopathy misdiagnosed as pneumonia.

On arriving at the emergency department, the patient had severe shortness of breath at rest 10 days after delivery. Her vital signs included an oral temperature of 36.7ºC, blood pressure 163/102 mmHg, pulse rate 146 beats/min, and oxygen saturation 88% in room air. Treatment with supplemental oxygen by mask yielded an increase in oxygen saturation to 95%. Her physical examination revealed no jugular venous distension, hepatic enlargement, or pedal oedema; heart sounds were fast and regular, with no evidence of murmurs or additional sounds. On lung auscultation bilateral crackles were present. Her laboratory analysis showed mild non-specific indicators of stress with a leucocyte count of 9.3×10 3 cells/mm 3 , haemoglobin value of 10.6 g/dL, and a platelet count of 791×10 3 cells/mm 3 . Her electrocardiogram was similar to the one obtained a day earlier showing T wave inversion in leads V4–V6; however, chest radiography showed a more bilateral presentation compared with the previous one showing both heart enlargement and pulmonary oedema. A chest computed tomography angiography performed to exclude pulmonary artery embolisation confirmed the presence of cardiomegaly and pulmonary oedema with bilateral effusions (fig 1). ⇓ An echocardiogram showed a diminished ejection fraction of 15-20% confirming the diagnosis of postpartum cardiomyopathy.

Amit BH, Marmor A, Hussein A. Unilateral presentation of postpartum cardiomyopathy misdiagnosed as pneumonia. BMJ Case Rep 2010, doi: 10.1136/bcr.05.2010.3039 .

Figure1

Fig 1 Chest computed tomogram performed after deterioration showing heart enlargement, pulmonary oedema, and bilateral pleural effusions mainly on the right. From Amit BH et al. BMJ Case Rep 2010, doi: 10.1136/bcr.05.2010.3039 .

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Imagine that you are presenting at a grand round and have to explain your choices to your colleagues—this is essentially what you are doing as you write your case report. Do not simply list your differential diagnoses; describe how you worked through your list of differentials and how you established a final diagnosis.

Also, make sure you collect and include high quality and well annotated images that not only explain radiological findings but also show their importance in establishing your diagnosis.

Good quality annotated images

Figure2

Fig 2 Craniocervical x ray film showing fusion of the posterior arch of C1 to the occiput. A fracture was not evident, but clinical suspicion prompted a computed tomography scan

Figure3

Fig 3 Axial, left, and sagittal, right, computed tomography scans of the craniocervical junction at presentation showing fusion of the left occipital condyle with the lateral mass of C1 and a fracture involving both elements. The fracture is indicated by the arrowheads

Outcome and follow-up

The outcome and your follow-up of the patient are important. In both your case presentation and the section on patient outcome, you should describe what happened to your patient in terms of their specific symptoms, their general wellbeing, and their lifestyle and activity.

Some journals require you to write a summary of your case report. This usually has a word limit and appears in medical search engines, such as Pubmed/MEDLINE. It is the equivalent of the abstract of a research paper.

Ensure that your title is scientific and clinical. Cryptic and humorous titles translate poorly across a global audience and do not always accurately reflect the content of your case report. You may find that the word limit does not permit you to write all the detail you would want to include in the summary, but the background section allows you to do this. Try to make sure that the background section does not repeat the summary.

Publication process

Clinical videos and images are important alternatives or potential additions to clinical case reports which many journals encourage authors to submit. Again, prepare these in collaboration with clinical teachers or coauthors, who will help you annotate these images and point out important learning messages, and do this from the outset in the format of the journal that you have researched well and decided to submit your manuscript to.

All submitted case reports are usually sent for peer review. Reviewers are chosen according to their specialty and clinical or academic interests. Your choice of key words is therefore important as these are the basis for the assignment of reviewers. Keywords are also important for other authors doing literature searches who discover your case report and cite this in their own writing.

Decisions to accept, revise, or reject are based on editors’ and reviewers’ opinions together, and every attempt is made to ensure that criticism is constructive and useful.

Dependent on how quickly your manuscript is reviewed, you should receive a decision on your manuscript within three to six weeks of submission. Outright rejections for reasons such as the unsuitability of your manuscript for the particular journal and its audience, manuscripts in the wrong format, incomplete sections (especially the case presentation and differential diagnosis sections), and plagiarism tend to be prompt, and they would be easily avoided by following the steps above and choosing your patient, your topic, your journal, and your particular manuscript format well.

Rejections on the basis of the content of the case report tend to be at the peer review stage and may be a few weeks after submission. They could include reasons such as the lack of novelty or educational message, a poor literature search, or inconsistent clinical management. Again, this is avoidable by preparing well. It is unusual for a well thought out and well prepared manuscript to be rejected.

Autoformatting software, especially with references, may produce errors, so do double check these. Syntax errors, spelling mistakes, and poor grammar create a poor impression of an otherwise good case report. As always, first impressions matter, so be meticulous as you proofread your manuscript before you submit.

The entire process of publication depends on the number of revisions necessary and how quickly you submit a revised manuscript. For those of you aiming to submit in time to prepare for job applications, do take into account the time taken in the process of publication.

Further reading

1. BMJ Case Reports has produced a ‘‘How to’’ guide for completing case report submission: http://casereports.bmj.com/site/about/How_to_complete_full_cases_template.pdf .

2. BMJ Case Reports has produced a clinical case reports template which illustrates the important points in a manuscript and should help you in your writing: http://casereports.bmj.com/site/about/guidelines.xhtml .

3. Some journals recommend patient perspectives in the write up of a case report. An example is at http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2015/bcr-2014-208529.full?sid=bb53a333-2c59-453a-a9bf-5775edc0e5d7 .

Originally published as: Student BMJ 2016;24:h3731

Competing interests: SB and OJ are editors of BMJ Case Reports.

Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.

  • ↵ Broca P. Remarks on the seat of the faculty of articulated language, following an observation of aphemia (loss of speech). Bulletin de la Société Anatomique . 1861 ; 6 : 330 -57. OpenUrl
  • ↵ Jones HB. On a new substance occurring in the urine of a patient with mollities ossium. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London . 1848 ; 138 : 55 -62. OpenUrl CrossRef
  • ↵ Parkinson J. An essay on the shaking palsy, 1817. J Neuropsych Clin Neurosci 2002 ; 14 : 223 -6. OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science
  • ↵ Gottlieb GJ, Ragaz A, Vogel JV, et al. A preliminary communication on extensively disseminated kaposige sarcoma in a young homosexual man. Am J Dermatopath 1981 ; 3 : 111 . OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science

how to write a clinical case report

Weill Cornell Medicine Samuel J. Wood Library

Case Reports: How to Write a Case Report

  • How to Write a Case Report
  • Case Report Resources
  • YouTube Resources

Consensus-Based Clinical Case Reporting Guidelines

how to write a clinical case report

Gagnier JJ, Riley D, Altman DG, Moher D, Sox H, Kienle GS, for the CARE group: The CARE guidelines: Consensus-based clinical case reporting guideline development. Dtsch Arztebl  Int 2013; 110(37): 603-8.

Select Journals Accepting Case Reports

Case report templates.

The CAse REporting (CARE)  team created templates in nine languages to assist clinicians, researchers, and educators with the ultimate goal of improving the completeness, transparency, and usefulness of case reports.  

English , Spanish , German , Chinese , Dutch , French , Japanese , Korean , Portuguese

  • Case Report Journals

A list of case report journals can be found in the pdf below. It provides information on the year launched, open-access status, reported questionable publishing practices, and whether the journal is indexed in Medline. The majority of these journals are open-access and will require a submission fee.

BMJ Case Reports

  • BMJ Consent Form

The Library has an institutional fellowship with  BMJ Case Reports  which allows faculty, staff, and students at Weill Cornell Medicine to submit case reports without paying an individual fellowship fee. Use our  fellowship code  when you are ready to publish. 

Please note: BMJ Case Reports, like most journals, requires a signed consent form in order for a case report to be considered for publication. 

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Clinical Case Reporting

How to write a case report

Clinical case report writing

You can now apply for the reckeweg clinical case award 2024..

The deadline for eligible cases is Feb 28, 2024 .

Step 2: Case report writing

The CARE-writer™ online tool helps you create clinical case report manuscripts following the CARE guidelines , a standard for evidence-based case reports. With built-in explanatory information and examples of well-written text, it will support you step-by-step in writing your case report. The CARE-writer ™  is provided to you by the CARE Group, which strives to support transparency and accuracy in case report publishing.

Case reports written with the CARE-writer ™  are ready for sharing , posting, or publishing. 

Start writing your clinical case report now!

* Individual registration with an email address and password is required.

When using this link, you will be redirected to a website of the company Integrative Medicine Institute (“IMI”) LLC d/b/a Scientific Writing in Health and Medicine based in the U.S. Heel GmbH is not responsible for this website and has no access to the data/content of the website.

Improve patient care

A major advantage of case reporting is its ability to detect novelties . It’s the only way to present unusual, uncontrolled observations regarding symptoms, clinical findings, the disease course and associations, management complications, and drug side effects. Anything that is rare or has never been observed previously might be important for the medical community, and deserves to be published.

Contribute to medical knowledge

As outlined by Cynthia Jackevicius (2018), healthcare professionals need “to contribute to the literature through case reports so that we can gain practical insights into the process of translating evidence to the real-world setting.” Furthermore, “Many professional organizations that develop guidelines, such as the American Heart Association, give case reports a lower ranking (e.g., level C evidence category), similar to that of clinical opinion. However, an objectively written, well-structured case report may actually constitute stronger evidence than subjective opinion.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, case reports have proven to be a fast and informative source of knowledge about the disease’s characteristics and treatment options. Your case report may be valuable for a healthcare professional in another country.

Win the Reckeweg Award for the best case report

If you’ve written a case report that was published in a peer-reviewed medical journal or posted on a preprint platform, you can apply for the Reckeweg Clinical Case Award . With this award and a €5,000 grant , Heel GmbH honours the best clinical cases on multitarget therapies every year, to encourage healthcare professionals to share their clinical experiences.

How to write your clinical case report

The CARE-writer ™ online tool was developed by SWIHM, which authored the CARE guidelines – today’s standard for systematic and transparent case report writing in medical research.

The CARE-writer ™  helps you format and generate a high-quality case report easily . Equipped with help buttons and examples of well-written case reports, the CARE-writer ™  supports you in creating your case report step-by-step. The tool is free of charge .

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How to Write Your First Clinical Case Report

American Medical Writers Association

What Is a Clinical Case Report?

Clinical case reports are instructional documents written by clinicians, often with assistance from medical writers who are experienced in writing scientific publications. Clinical case reports, which are published in medical journals, present a detailed description of an interesting or unusual patient case.    These documents are a way to spread new observations and knowledge throughout the medical community, whether to experienced medical practitioners, students, or other health care professionals.

Throughout their years of work, medical practitioners come across a variety of puzzling or complex illnesses, side effects, and patient cases. Whenever an unusual or noteworthy case occurs, there’s an opportunity for the case to help teach other medical professionals about the physician’s observations, diagnosis, and treatment plan. A written report of the patient case and resulting treatment and outcome is called a clinical case report.  

How Should I Structure a Clinical Case Report?

Fortunately, writing a clinical case report is not a guessing game. The CARE guidelines (for CAse REports) were last published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology in 2017. These guidelines, which were developed by an international group of experts, were first laid out in 2013. These guidelines were designed to support consistency, accuracy, and the potential for peer review and publication in medical journals. 

The CARE guidelines are an invaluable resource for new and veteran medical writers. The CARE checklist for clinical case reports outlines 13 document sections to include in a clinical case report.  Medical writers interested in crafting a clinical case report should download and print the entire checklist. It’s a helpful tool to keep handy at your desk.

Keep in mind that every medical journal has its own guidelines for what to include in a clinical case report and how to structure the document. Nevertheless, the focus should be the patient and what was unique about the case. The case presentation should be concise, with clear take‑away messages that clinicians can put into practice.

4 Keys for Successful Clinical Case Report Writing 

The CARE guidelines will help you structure your clinical case report, but there is also an art to these documents. Below, we outline four keys for a successful approach to the research and writing processes.

1. Prepare to ask a lot of questions

As you assist authors, one of the most important ways to set yourself up for success is to ask plenty of questions, including:

  • What key takeaway message will this clinical case report address for clinicians?
  • What can you assume readers will already know?
  • What new information will this case add to the existing literature?

It’s important to seek expert input so that you don’t miss or misrepresent critical information. Do you know the standard and abnormal values for related laboratory tests? Do you thoroughly understand the symptoms and treatment methods used in the case?

2. Think like a journalist

More than perhaps any other type of medical document, a clinical case report tells a story. Answer the basic questions covered in all news stories:

Journalists also carefully consider which details are important to the story. Some descriptions and human‑interest details help make the case compelling. Other details might distract the reader or add a sheen of drama that feels inappropriate for a clinical case report. 

3. Add visuals

Clinical case reports are learning tools. Adding photographs, X‑ray images, or other medical visuals will augment the document’s appeal and learning potential. 

Remind authors to get consent before using anything from patient records. It’s also important to block out all identifying information.

4. Seek acknowledgement

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April 19, 2021 at 9:00 AM

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BMJ Case Reports how to write a case report

How to write a case report BMJ Case Reports publishes four types of manuscript s

clinical case reports

global health case reports

Please use this guidance in conjunction with our writing templates

Global health case reports add detail about the patient’s social determinants of health, access to health care, prevailing local and national issues that affect health and well-being, and the challenges in providing care to vulnerable populations or with limited resources.

Clinical case reports are closest to classical case reports which describe unusual presentations, difficult diagnoses, challenging management decisions, pathophysiological mechanisms and complications. Adverse events, when reported, should be carefully described for learning purposes only.

Videos may be submitted with any of the three templates above. Crucial to all images and videos is that the patient is not identified and images and videos are cropped to show only the clinical point of interest.

Images in cases include a short description

(about 500 words) of the case cent e red around relevant clinical images or videos

Review our comprehensive author instructions

S elect ing a case We suggest that you write about a patient who is currently under your care , someone who can be a part of the writing process and is available for you to double - check details, clarify parts of the clinical story, is easy to follow up with in person or remotely and can offer you the individual perspective of their experience of illness and treatment.

Thus, when obtaining consent to submit and publish your manuscript, the patient is fully informed of the process and implications of online publication. As the Internet has evolved, it has become important to safeguard the patient’s identity, so we ask that all patient details are anonymi z ed – use age ranges rather than the exact age of the patient, e.g. , “a woman in her 20s” is preferable to “a 24 year old woman”, do not describe ethnicity or occupation unless essential to the clinical pathology, do not use the names of places , and do not use calendar dates ( " January 2022 would be eight months ago”). Do not upload images where the patient may be identified – check that there is no written identifying information on the images and do not upload facial images. It is common to discuss family history in detail – all individuals mentioned in the manuscript will also need to provide informed consent – use our BMJ consent form.

How to write

Involve your patient from start to finish

Type directly into our templates

Use formal medical English

Illustrate with images and diagrams

Anonymize all patient details

Informed consent from everyone mentioned

Complete all author statements

Address all reviewer comments in earnest

W rit ing a case report Please download and type directly into our templates which contain key reminders and author instructions. The templates and instructions have evolved during the last 10 years, so whether you have published with us before or this is your first manuscript submission , check the template instructions and reminders carefully.

Crucial to publication is the presentation of a solid evidence base for the arguments made in each manuscript and learning points derived precisely from the clinical material presented. Conclusions should be tempered as a reminder that these are single cases. Limitations in the interpretation of the information presented should be included in the discussion section. We do not publish manuscripts that report the efficacy or effectiveness of new treatments or phase II clinical trials. To avoid disappointment, any manuscript about novel treatments, treatment regimes or lifestyle changes should be preceded with a pre-submission i nquiry.

Our two key objectives are that all published manuscripts have substantial novel learning value and that manuscripts are patient-cent e red . What this means is that we publish both common and rare cases as long as there is something new to learn from these or as long as clinical information is presented in a manner that optimi z es learning . Ideas include illustrating clinical an d pathological correlation, reminding us of essential basic science, clarifying biochemical pathways and physiological mechanisms, presenting clinical guidelines in ways that are easy to follow, critically appraising relevant and up-to-date literature, and illustrating operative steps and anatomy.

Key steps These are the steps we suggest that you follow: 1) S elect the patient you plan to write about 2)D iscuss this with the team and all personnel relevant to aspects of the patient’s care 2)C ollect the information you need and type directly into the Word templates that we have prepared for you At the end of the templates are author statements that must be completed in full. All manuscripts should be written under the supervision of the senior clinician responsible for the patient’s care and obtaining written consent. Use our guid ance to write and avoid pitfalls that might prolong t he time it takes to send

Consent > Have you read our patient consent

information? We do not publish without consent - search for BMJ Author Hub for our details

Visit BMJ Author Hub

> Do you have the patient’s consent to submit your manuscript? > If the patient is deceased, do you have consent from the next of kin to submit your manuscript? > Are you in contact with the patient? Will it be easy to contact them again? This is important for the additional information you may be asked to provide during revision and to update follow-up outcomes.

you a decision about the progress of your manuscript or that may result in rejection.

Access the BMJ language editing service

Writing considerations > Have you chosen to write about a topic where there is something new to learn? > Have you chosen the correct template? > Do you have all the clinical information you need (histology slides, clinical images, results)? > Are you writing in formal medical English (in full sentences, not in note form) Have you avoided medical colloquialisms or medical shorthand (for example “ labs ”, “ bloods ”? > Have you checked for typos and grammar errors? Use either formal medical British or US English. Typos and grammar errors are not routinely corrected by the journal team and will delay publication. Please check and correct your manuscript carefully before you submit.

Key issues that affect publication > Are you certain that there is no overlap between what you are writing now and what you or someone else has already published elsewhere? Run a check for overlapping text or plagiarism before you submit. We do not accept manuscripts after preprint. > Has this case been published by you or someone else already? Another clinical team may be publishing a case report about the same patient. > Has the senior clinician responsible for the patient’s care supervised the writing of the manuscript and taken written informed consent from the patient? Have you included their contact details? > Have you cleared publication with the head of department or institutional ethics committee? > Is this patient enrolled in a clinical trial? > Is the case the subject of litigation or complaint? > Has this case appeared in the media? > Some published BMJ Case Reports are picked up by the media. Is your patient aware of this? Is the senior clinician responsible for the clinical care of the patient and writing of the case aware of this? > Have you completed the author statements in our template? We are unable to proceed with the peer review process without these.

> Have you checked all numerical values, results, percentages, drug doses and frequencies, and units of measurement in the manuscript? > Have you fully anonymi z ed the manuscript? (No exact age, no calendar dates, etc) > Have you removed the patient’s face from all images and videos? > Have you presented the clinical information in an effective way? Use diagrams . > Are your conclusions based on the clinical information in the case report and a thorough appraisal of up-to-date literature?

> Are your references in the Vancouver style?

Presenting information effectively Add illustrative diagrams – draw these using straightforward computer software and note in the figure legend that they are original diagrams that you have drawn. Clinical timelines should be summari z ed diagrammatically and make the patient’s clinical course much easier to follow. Clinical images are easier to interpret when they are annotated beside an accompanying diagram. Operative procedures are clarified when line diagrams are used to illustrate relevant anatomy, operative steps and potential pitfalls. If you use images that have been published elsewhere or have been downloaded from commercial image bases, we require proof of permission to publish and licensing agreements.

Example of clinical timelines drawn by the authors

Example of clinical and anatomical correlation

Example of mechanism of complications

Patient information

The patient perspective This is optional and should be an account of the patient’s experience: their interpretation of their signs and symptoms, access to healthcare, treatment, and life at home, work , and in the community after discharge. The patient should write in their own words. The authors should correct grammar and typos before submission. If the patient has dictated his or her perspective, the authors should transcribe (and state that they have done so). Please do not upload short statements of patient thanks or appreciation - these will not be published. Patient authored manuscripts We do not publish manuscripts where the patient is the sole author. If one of the co-authors is the patient described in the manuscript, the editorial office should be informed and the author statements appropriately completed at initial submission. These manuscripts should be carefully considered by the patient-author and the co-authors as anonymi z ation of patient details is difficult and the declaration that a co-author is a patient appears in the author statements at the end of the published manuscript. Please contact the editor and/or editorial office before submission to avoid disappointment.

The peer review process After you submit, your manuscript is sent for peer review. This takes time as we search for experienced clinicians who share your clinical interests and are available to provide expert reviews. Our guidance to reviewers is available for you to view so that you have a better idea what to expect visit authors.bmj.com for details.

check that you are using formal medical US or UK English and that the tone is neutral, objective and scientific. It is the authors’ responsibility to check that grammar and vocabulary are correct. All manuscripts should be proofread and typos corrected before submission. BMJ has a language editing service available to authors. Visit authors.bmj.com for more details. Numerical values and international units of measurement should be checked in every version of the manuscript and in the final proof before the article is published. Please confirm in writing that these are correct. In general, 50% of all submissions are accepted.

The initial emphasis during peer review is on the content of what you write and what may be learned. When the reviewers’ comments are forwarded to you by the editor, you are invited to respond in full and mark the revisions you have made in tracked changes . If you do not agree with comments you have received, explain why in your responses. Your revision is sent again for peer review and subsequent comments usually relate to precise clarifications that need to be made in clinical detail or scientific arguments. The process becomes more difficult and lengthy when language and format issues arise, so please, carefully

Global Health Competition

Become a Global Health Associate Editor Every year authors of global health case reports are given the opportunity to join the editorial team for a year or more. This is an opportunity to gain some editorial experience or join our team on research or educational projects. Students and graduates may apply. Simply select Global Health Competition when you submit a global health case report. Visit the BMJ Case Reports homepage for more information at casereports.bmj.com and contact the editor-in-chief at [email protected] .

How to write a case report: 5/23

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Guidelines To Writing A Clinical Case Report

  • PMID: 29184619
  • PMCID: PMC5686928
  • DOI: 10.4103/1995-705X.217857

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A guide to writing case reports for the Journal of Medical Case Reports and BioMed Central Research Notes

Richard a rison.

1 Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital Health Stroke Program, Los Angeles County Medical Center, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, 12401 Washington Blvd, Whittier, CA 90602, USA

Case reports are a time-honored, important, integral, and accepted part of the medical literature. Both the Journal of Medical Case Reports and the Case Report section of BioMed Central Research Notes are committed to case report publication, and each have different criteria. Journal of Medical Case Reports was the world’s first international, PubMed-listed medical journal devoted to publishing case reports from all clinical disciplines and was launched in 2007. The Case Report section of BioMed Central Research Notes was created and began publishing case reports in 2012. Between the two of them, thousands of peer-reviewed case reports have now been published with a worldwide audience. Authors now also have Cases Database, a continually updated, freely accessible database of thousands of medical case reports from multiple publishers. This informal editorial outlines the process and mechanics of how and when to write a case report, and provides a brief look into the editorial process behind each of these complementary journals along with the author’s anecdotes in the hope of inspiring all authors (both novice and experienced) to write and continue writing case reports of all specialties. Useful hyperlinks are embedded throughout for easy and quick reference to style guidelines for both journals.

Introduction: the importance of case reports

Case reports are a time-honored tradition in the medical profession. From Hippocrates (460 B.C. to 370 B.C.), and even arguably further back since the papyrus records of ancient Egyptian medicine (c. 1600 B.C.) to modern day, physicians of all specialties have described interesting cases involving all specialties [ 1 , 2 ]. Published case reports provide essential information for optimal patient care because they can describe important scientific observations that are missed or undetected in clinical trials, and provide individual clinical insights thus expanding our knowledge base [ 3 ].

The publication of case reports has indeed become a standard lexicon of the medical literature. Examples abound. Few practicing physicians would not know for instance the significance and subsequent discovery of a disease whose first description in 1981 began with the title in the medical case report literature as: “A preliminary communication on extensively disseminated Kaposi’s sarcoma in a young homosexual man” [ 4 ]. There is no neurologist that I know who is unfamiliar with the disease whose description began in 1817 by James Parkinson (1755 to 1824) with the title “An essay on the shaking palsy.” [ 5 ].

Yes, both of the above-mentioned famous diseases (the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and Parkinson’s disease) were first described in the case study format. The act of recording, discussion with colleagues, and publishing our clinical observations with patients remains essential to the art of medicine and patient care. As Osler once said “Always note and record the unusual…Publish it. Place it on permanent record as a short, concise note. Such communications are always of value.” [ 6 ].

But how and when should we do this? Early case reports were little more than personal communications between colleagues about unique and interesting patients seen in their respective medical practices. This anecdotal reporting has evolved into an accepted form of scholarly publication with the ability to rapidly disseminate knowledge to a broad medical audience [ 7 ] using the generally accepted format of a title, abstract, introduction (background), case presentation, discussion, conclusions, and references. Many biomedical journals publish case reports and provide authors with guidelines that provide instruction for acceptance criteria, content, and format and give advice on relevant patient case reports that merit publication [ 3 ].

There are already many well-written published articles on how and when to write a good case report (please see Recommended further reading section at the end). I will not re-invent the wheel, but within this editorial I hope to provide an informal guide on how and when to write a case report for BioMed Central (BMC), in particular the Journal of Medical Case Reports ( JMCR ) and BioMed Central Research Notes ( BMCRN ). The utility of the newly created Cases Database will also be discussed. Relevant and useful website links will be used throughout to allow the reader easy access to further information on BMC requirements. I also hope to impart to the reader a brief overview of case report editorial flow in both JMCR and BMCRN along with the complementary relationship between both journals. I will also give anecdotes of how I personally approach things.

Definitions

What exactly is a case report? From peer-reviewed journals to Wikipedia (and yes, I read Wikipedia like we all do) definitions are readily available and generally agreed upon. A simple online search shows the following definition from “thefreedictionary.com” [ 8 ]: “Case Report A report of a single case of a disease, usually with an unexpected presentation, which typically describes the findings, clinical course, and prognosis of the case, often accompanied by a review of other cases previously reported in the biomedical literature to put the reported case in context.” Wikipedia [ 9 ] has this to say: “In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence. Some case reports also contain a literature review of other reported cases.” Whether one uses the above definitional references or older more classic ones [ 10 ], all are in agreement.

How to start: the patient

Things start at the bedside or in the office with the most important person involved: the patient. Patients and their stories (including from their friends, coworkers, and family) are our portal to writing the case report. Patients (both in-patients and out-patients) are assessed, we confer with colleagues, appropriate investigations then follow, and treatment if possible begins. If I encounter an in-patient on call then I follow him or her throughout his or her hospitalization and, I hope, timely discharge. The patient is then followed and reexamined in the office over the course of time to see how the clinical course evolves. I usually wait 6 months over the course of multiple visits before I actually begin to write a case report so as to allow enough time for the clinical course to play out. Of course if the patient is hospitalized with an acute and rapid illness then this time may be much shorter, but I still follow him or her with daily neurologic examinations.

Collegial discussion and the Internet: our modern day water cooler

When an interesting condition is encountered in either the hospital or the office setting, I discuss the case in person with both my local neurology colleagues and colleagues of other specialties to see if they have encountered before the clinical scenario that I am dealing with at the time. This is usually a quick face-to-face nursing station conversation. If the case is particularly challenging then I will contact my local university colleagues for their opinion (especially if an urgent transfer needs to be arranged). I then “hit the books”, or at least I used to. Nowadays I usually “hit the keyboards” which are plentiful at every hospital nursing station and in my office. Indeed, the Internet seems to have become our modern day replacement for office water cooler conversations. Since it is readily available (and free to me because I am a member of the staff) in the hospital in which I see patients and in my office, I usually start with UpToDate® [ 11 ] and then click the links to individual references. Further reading is then supplemented by both PubMed [ 12 ] (free) and Cases Database (also free) [ 13 ] (see later). If I feel that a particular patient warrants a case report, then I continue to read more and more. There are also medical list servers and medical online communities to which one can post a case with de-identified images online and petition the advice of colleagues worldwide. I use both Neurolist [ 14 ] (a membership-only service, but membership is free) and The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) for my specialty and/or subspecialties [ 15 ] (also a membership-only service, the fee of which comes out of my yearly AAN dues). Another useful list server is sermo® [ 16 ], which has free membership. Teaching grand rounds at one’s local university or hospital, poster presentations, and simple discussion with professors giving lectures at local seminars are also good (and previously “traditional”) places to start. I have always preferred an in-person encounter to discuss a case with a colleague or professor, but given the current day and age (daily workload, travel costs, time away from the office and family, and so on), I have found Internet-based discussion (keeping all patient information anonymous of course) very helpful.

The BMC series, JMCR , and BMCRN : a brief history

The BMC series is a group of open access, peer-reviewed journals that spans most areas of biological and clinical research. There are currently 65 journals in the series, including (alphabetically) BMC Anesthesiology to BMC Women’s Health. Some of these publish case reports within their respective disciplines, and some do not [ 17 ].

JMCR is an online, open access journal under BMC auspices dedicated mainly to the publication of high quality case reports, and aims to contribute to the expansion of current medical knowledge (please see specific publication criteria below). It was created and founded by Michael Kidd and colleagues in 2007 and at the time was believed to be the world’s first international medical journal devoted to publishing case reports from all clinical disciplines. In the 5 years since its launch, JMCR has published over 2000 case reports. In 2011, case reports were downloaded from the journal’s website over 1,500,000 times [ 18 ].

BMCRN is also an online, open access journal under BMC auspices publishing scientifically sound research across all fields of biology and medicine. The journal provides a home for short publications, case series, and incremental updates to previous work with the intention of reducing the loss suffered by the research community when such results remain unpublished. BMCRN began publishing case reports in 2012 and now has a dedicated section for case reports [ 19 ].

Please read on to see the complementary relationship of case reporting between the two journals, how they relate to other journals in the BMC series, and further information on editorial work flow including specific publication criteria.

Cases Database: an invaluable resource

Since the launch of JMCR in 2007 and the more recent introduction of case reports to the BMCRN , which aims to have a broader scope, BMC has acknowledged and continues to acknowledge the value of case reports to the scientific literature. To further strengthen this commitment, BMC in conjunction with Michael Kidd have developed the invaluable new resource of Cases Database, a continually updated, freely accessible database of thousands of medical case reports from multiple other publishers, including Springer, British Medical Journal, and PubMed Central. By aggregating case reports and facilitating comparison, Cases Database provides a simple resource to clinicians, researchers, regulators and patients to explore content and identify emerging trends [ 20 ].

http://www.casesdatabase.com/

I find Cases Database indispensable when I research a particular patient’s condition. It is very helpful in seeing if a particular condition has been reported before and what treatment the authors have performed. It is an invaluable resource which can be used to check and see if previous cases have been reported before and how other authors have managed their patients with similar clinical conditions. When I last checked, Cases Database had in its repository 27,915 peer-reviewed medical case reports from 250 journals (!) [ 13 ]. Cases Database is quickly becoming my first go to when reading about a patient’s condition and symptoms.

When to write a case report

How does one determine when to write an actual case report? What constitutes and what are the criteria for publication? Different journals have different criteria, but here are the criteria for JMCR and BMCRN .

JMCR [ 21 ] publishes original and interesting case reports that contribute significantly to medical knowledge. Manuscripts must meet one of the following criteria: unreported or unusual side effects or adverse interactions involving medications; unexpected or unusual presentations of a disease; new associations or variations in disease processes; presentations, diagnoses and/or management of new and emerging diseases; an unexpected association between diseases or symptoms; an unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient; findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport

BMCRN [ 22 ] has somewhat different publication criteria: BMCRN considers medical case reports that describe any clinical case. Case reports submitted to BMCRN do not need to be novel, but must be authentic cases and have some educational value along with representing at least an incremental advance in the field. BMCRN will not consider case reports describing preventive or therapeutic interventions because these generally require stronger evidence.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport

Neither BMCRN nor JMCR will consider case reports where there are ethical concerns.

JMCR and BMCRN have the following definitions that authors should know: a single case report, two case reports, or a case series (greater than two reported cases). Both journals follow this format and accept submissions with these title structures.

I tend to classify case reports in my mind generally as follows: diagnosis-related, management-related, or both [ 10 ]. Either type should have clear and concise take-home messages and teaching points. I personally keep a stack of charts labeled “Curious Cases” on a bookshelf within my small office next to my desk which is always within my field of view at work, adhering to the “out of sight, out of mind” principle. Over the years that space has grown and, admittedly, I have cases dating back over the entire span of my years in practice (now over 13 years) which I simply have not gotten around to yet (!).

BMC editorial workflow for case reports: a brief glimpse

If a BMC Series journal editorial team considers a submitted case report unsuitable for their respective specialty journal (and now a growing list of Springer journals that BMC is now affiliated with), the authors are given the option to transfer their manuscript to BMCRN . If this option is exercised, then the BMC editorial team (usually the Case Report Section Editor for BMCRN in conjunction with the appropriate Associate Editor) determines if the manuscript is suitable for BMCRN or if it is more suitable for JMCR (based on the criteria listed above). The manuscripts will then be forwarded on to the respective Deputy and/or Associate Editors for peer review depending on which of the journals the author(s) agree(s) to. Peer reviewers are solicited (usually at least one at BMCRN and at least two at JMCR ). The peer review comments (which are open and identifiable at JMCR and blinded at BMCRN ) are then usually sent to the authors for appropriate revisions and rebuttals (unless it is felt that the manuscript should be rejected outright, at which time the editorial office sends the authors an explanatory letter). After these revisions and rebuttals have been performed, the revised manuscript and rebuttals are sent back to the respective editors for a final decision and recommendations. These decisions and recommendations are then forwarded on to the Editor-in-Chief for final approval for publication. At JMCR , manuscripts are professionally copyedited before being sent off to the production team for publication, whereas at BMCRN the authors are requested to obtain their own professional copyediting (if needed) before publication (the respective costs being reflected within the different article processing charges for both journals). When the manuscripts are published in both journals, they are in the preliminary form before being converted to the final form after production.

Author satisfaction consistently ranks high for the overall process in both journals.

The actual case report

Now let us discuss the brass tacks of writing the actual case report by going through the individual sections that will comprise the manuscript. I will present them in a sequence that matches the journals’ website requirements and provide easily accessible hyperlinks to both respective journals.

The first page of the manuscript should be a dedicated title page, including the title of the article. The title should be a clear and short description of the case with a list of the full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors. There should always be at least one corresponding author who is clearly identified. Abbreviations within the title should always be avoided.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-title

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#title

I usually end the title with “…: a case report” or “…: two case reports” or “…: a case series”. I also try to avoid any puns or overly cute wording within the title and try to keep things strictly descriptive and clear. The title needs to accurately describe the case – after all, this may be all that someone reads. If a cute or clever title is used that obscures what the case is really about, then it may be even less likely that the manuscript is read.

The Abstract should be “short and sweet”. It should not exceed 350 words. Abbreviations or references within the Abstract should not be used. The Abstract should be structured into three sections: Background, an introduction about why this case is important and needs to be reported. Please include information on whether this is the first report of this kind in the literature; Case presentation, brief details of what the patient(s) presented with, including the patient’s age, sex and ethnic background; Conclusions, a brief conclusion of what the reader should learn from the case report and what the clinical impact will be. Is it an original case report of interest to a particular clinical specialty of medicine or will it have a broader clinical impact across medicine? Are any teaching points identified?

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-abstract

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#abstract

I find this is the most important part because this is often all that people will read and its availability will allow easy retrieval from electronic databases and help researchers decide their level of interest in the case report. The Abstract should be a concise and condensed version of the case report and should include the same main sections of the main text and be as succinct as possible [ 3 ]. This is the last thing that I usually write as it tends to flow easily after I have invested my time in thought and writing of the manuscript.

This section is comprised of three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article. It is important for indexing the manuscript and easy online retrieval.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-keywords

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-keywords

Introduction (Background)

The Introduction ( JMCR ) or Background ( BMCRN ) section should explain the background of the case, including the disorder, usual presentation and progression, and an explanation of the presentation if it is a new disease. If it is a case discussing an adverse drug interaction the Introduction should give details of the drug’s common use and any previously reported side effects. It should also include a brief literature review. This should give an introduction to the case report from the standpoint of those without specialist knowledge in the area, clearly explaining the background of the topic. It should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the article.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-intro

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#background

The Introduction or Background serves as the sales pitch for the rest of the manuscript. It should be concise and salient [ 3 ] and immediately attract the reader’s attention to entice him or her to read on.

Case presentation

This should present all relevant details concerning the case. The Case presentation section should contain a description of the patient’s relevant demographic information (without adding any details that could lead to the identification of the patient); any relevant medical history of the patient; the patient's symptoms and signs; any tests that were carried out and a description of any treatment or intervention. If it is a case series, then details must be included for all patients. This section may be broken into subsections with appropriate subheadings.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-case

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#presentation

This is one of the most integral sections. The case should be described in a concise and chronological order. One should usually begin with the primary complaint, salient history (including significant family, occupational, and other social history along with any significant medications taken or allergies), followed by the physical examination, starting with the vital signs presented at the examination, along with pertinent investigations and results. There should be enough detail (but not too much) for the reader to establish his or her own conclusions about the validity. It should contain only pertinent information and nothing superfluous or confusing [ 3 ].

This is an optional section in JMCR for additional comments that provide additional relevant information not included in the case presentation, and that put the case in context or that explain specific treatment decisions.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-discussion

This section should evaluate the patient case for accuracy, validity, and uniqueness and compare and contrast the case report with the published literature. The authors should briefly summarize the published literature with contemporary references [ 3 ].

Although this section is optional in JMCR (and not even listed separately on the BMCRN guidelines website), I find that most authors write this section, or an expanded conclusions section incorporating the elements listed above.

I personally write a separate discussion section and conclusions section for each case report that I author.

Conclusions

This should state clearly the main conclusions of the case report and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance. Is it an original case report of interest to a particular clinical specialty of medicine or will it have a broader clinical impact across medicine? Information should be included on how it will significantly advance our knowledge of a particular disease etiology or drug mechanism (if appropriate).

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-conclusion

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#conclusions

This should be short and concise with clear take-home messages and teaching points [ 3 ].

Patient’s perspective

This section is an opportunity for patients to add a description of a case from their own perspective. The patients should be encouraged to state what originally made them seek medical advice, give a description of their symptoms, whether the symptoms were better or worse at different times, how tests and treatments affected them, and how the problem is now. This section can be written as deemed appropriate by the patients, but should not include identifying information that is irrelevant to the case reported. As medicine becomes more person-centered, the voice of the individual patient becomes even more important, both to assist in clinical decision making, and for medical education.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-patients

This optional section is unique to JMCR , and I believe adds an important new dimension to the traditional case report. Most authors still do not yet take advantage of this, but I hope as time goes on and more and more open access case report manuscripts are published that this section will be routinely used, not just in JMCR but also in BMCRN and all other BMC clinical journals. I recall one manuscript in particular where the patient himself was requesting publication as soon as possible because of his terminal disease. He wanted his message out there and be available to all to read before he died.

List of abbreviations

When abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations can be provided, which should precede the Competing interests and Authors’ contributions sections.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-abbreviations

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-abbreviations

Both JMCR and BMCRN publish case reports over a wide range of medical and surgical specialties, and it is important for the reader who may not be within that particular specialty to readily access a quick list of common technical abbreviations. Also, given the open access nature of both journals, please keep in mind that non-medical professionals may read the manuscript as well.

This section is compulsory for BMC. It should provide a statement to confirm that the patient has given their informed consent for the case report to be published. The written consent should not routinely be sent in along with the manuscript submission (because of patient privacy issues), but the BMC editorial office may request copies of the consent documentation at any time. The following wording is recommended: “Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.” If the individual described in the case report is a minor, or unable to provide consent, then consent must be sought from his or her parents or legal guardians. In these cases, the statement in the ‘Consent’ section of the manuscript should be amended accordingly. Please keep in mind that manuscripts will not be peer reviewed if a statement of patient consent is not present.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-consent

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#consent

In practice, I always start with written consent from the patient. If the patient is incapacitated or deceased, then I obtain consent from the patient’s next-of-kin. Once this is obtained then I place it in the patient’s chart for safe keeping. I find that most patients and family members are quite agreeable to publication as long as their details are anonymous. BMC has very clear and explicit consent criteria and consent forms in multiple languages. I always keep a consent form within my office (and carry a few in my doctor’s handbag for hospital consults) for ready access. After I have obtained consent, I place it in the patient’s chart and keep it my office.

If the patient has died, then I try to obtain consent from the patient’s next-of-kin. This is usually done via telephone or postal mail. If the deceased patient’s family is amenable (and usually they are), then I send them (I never use email when it comes to patient-identifying information) the pre-filled out consent form in their language with a return envelope and paid for postage via the postal service. If I am unable to obtain consent this way in a case involving a patient who has died, then I write in the Consent section the following: “Written informed consent could not be obtained from the deceased patient’s next-of-kin for publication of this case report and accompanying images despite all reasonable attempts. Every effort has been made to protect the patient’s identity and there is no reason to believe that our patient would have objected to publication.”

If the patient was last known to be living but untraceable (or mentally incapacitated without next-of-kin consent), then I just simply do not publish the case.

For further information, please see JMCR and BMCRN website consent section hyperlinks as listed above.

Competing interests

A competing interest exists when one’s interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by a personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Authors must disclose any financial competing interests and should also reveal any non-financial competing interests that may cause embarrassment were they to become public after the publication of the manuscript. Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests. All competing interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published article. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing should read “The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests”.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-competing

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-competing

I do not usually find any problems with competing interests in the case reports that I publish, but the section should always be completed in our era and in the spirit of complete disclosure.

Authors’ contributions

In order to give appropriate credit to each author of a paper, the individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section.

An ‘author’ is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. To qualify as an author one should: 1) have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) have been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) have given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-contributions

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-contributions

I have found over the years a trend towards multi-authored case report manuscripts by many different individuals involved in the care of a patient(s). In my setting, it is usually me, a medical student or resident, a second-opinion tertiary colleague, and/or a pathologist or radiologist (if applicable). But I also recognize that there are situations that warrant more co-authors. The above criteria though for co-authorship should always be followed, and I have seen editorial situations where peer reviewers (including Associate Editors) have questioned what they felt was excessive authorship.

Authors’ information

This section includes any relevant information about the author(s) that may aid the reader’s interpretation of the article and understanding of the standpoint of the author(s). This may include details about the authors’ qualifications, current positions they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information. Please refer to authors using their initials. Note this section should not be used to describe any competing interests.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-information

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-information

In practice, I have frankly also personally used this section to advertise my services and “tout” my certifications and subspecialties (along with any co-authors and affiliated institutions) to my surrounding local community. This has in turn given me a modest increase in business (which has been completely non-monetary to date), usually in the form of email-based queries, many of which come from patients outside of my locality.

Acknowledgements

Authors should acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Also included should be the source(s) of funding for each author, and for the manuscript preparation. Authors must describe the role of the funding body, if any, in the: design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Please also acknowledge anyone who contributed materials essential for the study. If a language editor has made significant revision of the manuscript, I recommend that you acknowledge the editor by name, where possible. Authors may also like to acknowledge (anonymously) the patient on whom the case report is based. If a scientific (medical) writer is used, this person should be included in the Acknowledgements section, including their source(s) of funding. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-acknowledgements

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-acknowledgements

I have had colleagues who do not want to participate in the actual writing of the manuscript or do any actual “work” who have instead preferred to be mentioned in this section only.

Authors must search for and cite published case reports that are relevant to the case they are presenting. There should be no more than 15 references usually, although BMC does publish manuscripts with more references particularly if there is an extended literature review. Unless it is of historic interest, please keep the references as contemporary as feasible (for example, within the last 5 years or so). Please avoid excessive referencing.

http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-references

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/authors/instructions/casereport#formatting-references

Cover letter

This is a separate document that should be written and uploaded with the main manuscript submission. I usually write this after I have written the Abstract. The cover letter should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief in a formal manner and include all of the authors’ contact information. It should clearly and concisely state the title of the manuscript, and why the authors feel that their case report should be published based on any already available literature on the topic at hand. From an editor’s viewpoint, the cover letter is exceptionally important as that is the first thing that he or she reads and serves as the gateway to the Abstract and then the rest of the manuscript.

BMC author academy: help for all

Both JMCR and BMCRN have a large number of non-native English-speaking authors. Since JMCR and BMCRN are both BMC publications whose editorial offices are based in England, the language of publication is of course English. The BMC author academy is a joint program by BMC and Edanz [ 23 ] aimed at equipping writers for successful publication. Their materials have been developed from training workshops that Edanz gives to researchers worldwide and are not just limited to case reports. BMC recommends Edanz for authors who want to have their manuscript edited by a native speaker of English who is a scientific expert. Edanz provides scientific editing and related services that raise the quality of manuscripts to the standard needed to be understood at peer review.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/authors/authoracademy

I find that most non-native English-speaking authors have their manuscripts reviewed informally by a native English-speaking colleague and/or friend who is usually mentioned within the Acknowledgements section. This is understandable to keep costs down. However, please be aware that poor grammar and frequent spelling mistakes can be an impediment to editorial work flow and peer review. The editorial staff for both JMCR and BMCRN are acutely aware and sensitive to this given the large number of international submissions. At both JMCR and BMCRN , submitted manuscripts with questionable grammar and spelling are returned back to the authors by the editorial staff if it is felt that the grammar and spelling mistakes would impede peer review. If these issues are minor and it is felt that they would not impede peer review, then the manuscripts are sent off to peer reviewers (when appropriate).

Final checklist and the rule of C s

After I have completed a case report, I like to run through my long-winded (but useful) “rule of Cs” which is as follows.

Is it C lear, C oncise, and C oherent? Does it C onvey your message? Have you used C ases Database to look for any previously similar reported cases, and included them, if appropriate, in your references? Have you C onferred with your C olleagues on the C ontent? Will it C ause the reader to be C urious? Did you obtain C onsent? Does it C ontain all of the necessary information? Does it C omply with BM C guidelines? Do you think that it may need C opyediting? Do your C o-authors C oncur with the C ompleted paper? C an you C ut anything unnecessary out? Are your findings likely to be a C oincidence or by C hance alone? If so, then mention this in the Discussion section. Is the writing style C onsistent? Many times I find co-authored manuscripts have different writing styles within the same paper depending on who wrote what section. There should be a C entral, C orresponding author who is in C harge and oversees all of this. Is the C ase report written in a C hronological fashion with respect to the patient’s history and C hain of events? Is there anything that can be C ut out and have it still C ontain the C ompulsory information? Is it C oncise? Have you C onveyed C uriosity for your C ase report within your C over letter to the editorial team? Remember: your C over letter is the sales pitch to the editorial team! Make it C ount! Have you used within the manuscript C opyrighted information from another source? If so, do you need and/or have permission for use? After C ompletion, wait a C ouple of days before final submission to C lear your mind and read the manuscript again to C atch any mistakes that you may have made while you were C aught up in the C ompletion of it. Are the references C ontemporary? C an it be C omprehended by the average (“ C ”) reader? Remember, both JMCR and BMCRN are open access and freely available to anyone with an Internet C onnection and C omputer. C ast as wide a net as possible and C apture your C olleagues’ and other readers’ C uriosity. And first and foremost as a C linician: was the C are of your patient C ompetent and C ompassionate? (that is, are there any ethical concerns that may preclude peer review and publication?).

Summary and parting advice

Case reporting can be fun and a lifelong hobby, both for novice and experienced authors alike. It is now integral and widely accepted within published medical literature and today’s electronic information and data-sharing age. By following the above recommended steps and general overview, I hope to encourage BMC authors to continue to write and submit manuscripts to both JMCR and BMCRN . After your manuscript is complete, please follow the rule of “Cs”, especially “ C lear, C oncise, C oherent, C onsent, C ompassion, and C ompetence”, which will be appreciated by both reviewers and editors. Do not be afraid to obtain help from native English speakers for your manuscript. Also, please adhere to deadlines and follow instructions given by the editorial office, especially regarding any revisions. Editors read many different manuscripts and the longer it takes to get back a manuscript after revisions have been requested the less fresh that manuscript is in mind. Lastly, consider volunteering as an Associate Editor and/or reviewer within your specialty for both journals. I do for both, and the experience has improved both my writing and editing skills and daily interactions with patients.

Recommended further reading

I recommend the following further instructive reading on how and when to write a case report: References [ 3 , 7 , 10 , 24 ] (the last referenced article is in German, but one should readily be able to obtain an English translation if needed through a local librarian. It is well worth reading.)

I also recommend the following instructive BMC-related editorials and commentaries concerning the modern-day importance of case reports: References 2, 18, and 19.

I thank Professor Michael R. Kidd for his valuable advice and comments on this manuscript.

  • Breasted J. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Chicago: Chicago University Press; 1930. [ Google Scholar ]
  • Rison RA. Neurology case reporting: a call for all. J Med Case Reports. 2011; 7 :113. doi: 10.1186/1752-1947-5-113. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Cohen H. How to write a case report. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2006; 7 :1888–1892. doi: 10.2146/ajhp060182. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Gottleib GJ, Rogoz A, Vogel JV, Friedman-Kien A, Rywlin AM, Weiner EA, Ackerman AB. A preliminary communication on extensively disseminated Kaposi’s sarcoma in a young homosexual man. Am J Dermatopathol. 1981; 7 :111–114. doi: 10.1097/00000372-198100320-00002. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Goetz CG. The history of Parkinson’s disease: early clinical descriptions and neurological therapies. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2011; 7 (1):a008862. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Thayer WS. Osler, The Teacher Sir William Osler, Bart. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press; 1920. pp. 51–52. [ Google Scholar ]
  • Carleton HA, Webb ML. The case report in context. Yale J Biol Med. 2012; 7 :93–96. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Weblink. “ http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/case+report ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_report ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Peh WCG, Ng KH. Writing a case report. Singapore Med J. 2010; 7 (1):10. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Weblink. “ http://www.uptodate.com/home ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.casesdatabase.com/ ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.neurolist.com/ ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.aan.com/ ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.sermo.com/ ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.biomedcentral.com/authors/bmcseries ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Kidd MR, Saltman DC. Case reports at the vanguard of 21 st century medicine. J Med Case Reports. 2012; 7 :156. doi: 10.1186/1752-1947-6-156. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Cabán-Martinez AJ, Beltrán WF. Advancing medicine one research note at a time: the educational value in clinical case reports. BMC Res Notes. 2012; 7 :293. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-5-293. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
  • Weblink. “ http://www.casesdatabase.com/about ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/ ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Weblink. “ http://www.edanzediting.com/ ” Accessed on August 11 th , 2013.
  • Schneemann M, Ruggieri F. [Publish your case report]. [ Article in German ] Praxis ( Bern 1994 ) 2013. pp. 253–259. doi:10.1024/1661-8157/a001229. quiz 60–61. [ PubMed ]

Case report

Reproductive Health welcomes well-described reports of cases involving reproductive organs or diseases/conditions that include the following: • Unreported or unusual side effects or adverse interactions involving medications • Unexpected or unusual presentations of a disease. • New associations or variations in disease processes. • Presentations, diagnoses and/or management of new and emerging diseases. • An unexpected association between diseases or symptoms. • An unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient. • Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect. Case reports submitted to Reproductive Health should make a contribution to medical knowledge and must have educational value or highlight the need for a change in clinical practice or diagnostic/prognostic approaches. Reproductive Health will not consider Case reports describing preventive or therapeutic interventions, as these generally require stronger evidence. Case reports should include relevant positive and negative findings from history, examination and investigation, and can include clinical photographs, provided these are accompanied by written consent to publish from the patient(s). Case reports should include an up-to-date review of all previous cases in the field. Authors are encouraged to describe how the Case report is rare or unusual as well as its educational and/or scientific merits in the covering letter that will accompany the submission of the manuscript. Case report submissions will be assessed by the Editors and will be sent for peer review if considered appropriate for the journal. Authors should seek written and signed consent to publish the information from the patients or their guardians prior to submission. The submitted manuscript must include a statement to this effect in the Consent section. The editorial office may request copies of the informed consent documentation upon submission of the manuscript.

Preparing your manuscript

The information below details the section headings that you should include in your manuscript and what information should be within each section.

Please note that your manuscript must include a 'Declarations' section including all of the subheadings (please see below for more information).

Title page 

The title page should:

  • "A versus B in the treatment of C: a randomized controlled trial", "X is a risk factor for Y: a case control study", "What is the impact of factor X on subject Y: A systematic review, A case report etc."
  • or, for non-clinical or non-research studies: a description of what the article reports
  • if a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the Group name as an author. If you would like the names of the individual members of the Group to be searchable through their individual PubMed records, please include this information in the “Acknowledgements” section in accordance with the instructions below
  • Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT , do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria . Notably an attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, which cannot be effectively applied to LLMs. Use of an LLM should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript
  •  indicate the corresponding author

The Abstract should not exceed 350 words. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract. The abstract must include the following separate sections:

  • Background: why the case should be reported and its novelty
  • Case presentation: a brief description of the patient’s clinical and demographic details, the diagnosis, any interventions and the outcomes
  • Conclusions: a brief summary of the clinical impact or potential implications of the case report

Keywords 

Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article.

The Background section should explain the background to the case report or study, its aims, a summary of the existing literature.

Case presentation

This section should include a description of the patient’s relevant demographic details, medical history, symptoms and signs, treatment or intervention, outcomes and any other significant details.

Discussion and Conclusions

This should discuss the relevant existing literature and should state clearly the main conclusions, including an explanation of their relevance or importance to the field.

List of abbreviations

If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations should be provided.

Declarations

All manuscripts must contain the following sections under the heading 'Declarations':

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Consent for publication, availability of data and materials, competing interests, authors' contributions, acknowledgements.

  • Authors' information (optional)

Please see below for details on the information to be included in these sections.

If any of the sections are not relevant to your manuscript, please include the heading and write 'Not applicable' for that section. 

Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

  • include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)
  • include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval and for experimental studies involving client-owned animals, authors must also include a statement on informed consent from the client or owner.

See our editorial policies for more information.

If your manuscript does not report on or involve the use of any animal or human data or tissue, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

If your manuscript contains any individual person’s data in any form (including any individual details, images or videos), consent for publication must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent for publication.

You can use your institutional consent form or our consent form if you prefer. You should not send the form to us on submission, but we may request to see a copy at any stage (including after publication).

See our editorial policies for more information on consent for publication.

If your manuscript does not contain data from any individual person, please state “Not applicable” in this section.

All manuscripts must include an ‘Availability of data and materials’ statement. Data availability statements should include information on where data supporting the results reported in the article can be found including, where applicable, hyperlinks to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. By data we mean the minimal dataset that would be necessary to interpret, replicate and build upon the findings reported in the article. We recognise it is not always possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be compromised, and in such instances data availability should still be stated in the manuscript along with any conditions for access.

Authors are also encouraged to preserve search strings on searchRxiv https://searchrxiv.org/ , an archive to support researchers to report, store and share their searches consistently and to enable them to review and re-use existing searches. searchRxiv enables researchers to obtain a digital object identifier (DOI) for their search, allowing it to be cited. 

Data availability statements can take one of the following forms (or a combination of more than one if required for multiple datasets):

  • The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]
  • The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  • All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
  • The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
  • Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
  • The data that support the findings of this study are available from [third party name] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [third party name].
  • Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

More examples of template data availability statements, which include examples of openly available and restricted access datasets, are available here .

BioMed Central strongly encourages the citation of any publicly available data on which the conclusions of the paper rely in the manuscript. Data citations should include a persistent identifier (such as a DOI) and should ideally be included in the reference list. Citations of datasets, when they appear in the reference list, should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite and follow journal style. Dataset identifiers including DOIs should be expressed as full URLs. For example:

Hao Z, AghaKouchak A, Nakhjiri N, Farahmand A. Global integrated drought monitoring and prediction system (GIDMaPS) data sets. figshare. 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.853801

With the corresponding text in the Availability of data and materials statement:

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS]. [Reference number]  

If you wish to co-submit a data note describing your data to be published in BMC Research Notes , you can do so by visiting our submission portal . Data notes support open data and help authors to comply with funder policies on data sharing. Co-published data notes will be linked to the research article the data support ( example ).

All financial and non-financial competing interests must be declared in this section.

See our editorial policies for a full explanation of competing interests. If you are unsure whether you or any of your co-authors have a competing interest please contact the editorial office.

Please use the authors initials to refer to each authors' competing interests in this section.

If you do not have any competing interests, please state "The authors declare that they have no competing interests" in this section.

All sources of funding for the research reported should be declared. If the funder has a specific role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript, this should be declared.

The individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section. Guidance and criteria for authorship can be found in our editorial policies .

Please use initials to refer to each author's contribution in this section, for example: "FC analyzed and interpreted the patient data regarding the hematological disease and the transplant. RH performed the histological examination of the kidney, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."

Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article who does not meet the criteria for authorship including anyone who provided professional writing services or materials.

Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

See our editorial policies for a full explanation of acknowledgements and authorship criteria.

If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please write "Not applicable" in this section.

Group authorship (for manuscripts involving a collaboration group): if you would like the names of the individual members of a collaboration Group to be searchable through their individual PubMed records, please ensure that the title of the collaboration Group is included on the title page and in the submission system and also include collaborating author names as the last paragraph of the “Acknowledgements” section. Please add authors in the format First Name, Middle initial(s) (optional), Last Name. You can add institution or country information for each author if you wish, but this should be consistent across all authors.

Please note that individual names may not be present in the PubMed record at the time a published article is initially included in PubMed as it takes PubMed additional time to code this information.

Authors' information

This section is optional.

You may choose to use this section to include any relevant information about the author(s) that may aid the reader's interpretation of the article, and understand the standpoint of the author(s). This may include details about the authors' qualifications, current positions they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information. Please refer to authors using their initials. Note this section should not be used to describe any competing interests.

Footnotes can be used to give additional information, which may include the citation of a reference included in the reference list. They should not consist solely of a reference citation, and they should never include the bibliographic details of a reference. They should also not contain any figures or tables.

Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data). Footnotes to the title or the authors of the article are not given reference symbols.

Always use footnotes instead of endnotes.

Examples of the Vancouver reference style are shown below.

See our editorial policies for author guidance on good citation practice

Web links and URLs: All web links and URLs, including links to the authors' own websites, should be given a reference number and included in the reference list rather than within the text of the manuscript. They should be provided in full, including both the title of the site and the URL, as well as the date the site was accessed, in the following format: The Mouse Tumor Biology Database. http://tumor.informatics.jax.org/mtbwi/index.do . Accessed 20 May 2013. If an author or group of authors can clearly be associated with a web link, such as for weblogs, then they should be included in the reference.

Example reference style:

Article within a journal

Smith JJ. The world of science. Am J Sci. 1999;36:234-5.

Article within a journal (no page numbers)

Rohrmann S, Overvad K, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Jakobsen MU, Egeberg R, Tjønneland A, et al. Meat consumption and mortality - results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. BMC Medicine. 2013;11:63.

Article within a journal by DOI

Slifka MK, Whitton JL. Clinical implications of dysregulated cytokine production. Dig J Mol Med. 2000; doi:10.1007/s801090000086.

Article within a journal supplement

Frumin AM, Nussbaum J, Esposito M. Functional asplenia: demonstration of splenic activity by bone marrow scan. Blood 1979;59 Suppl 1:26-32.

Book chapter, or an article within a book

Wyllie AH, Kerr JFR, Currie AR. Cell death: the significance of apoptosis. In: Bourne GH, Danielli JF, Jeon KW, editors. International review of cytology. London: Academic; 1980. p. 251-306.

OnlineFirst chapter in a series (without a volume designation but with a DOI)

Saito Y, Hyuga H. Rate equation approaches to amplification of enantiomeric excess and chiral symmetry breaking. Top Curr Chem. 2007. doi:10.1007/128_2006_108.

Complete book, authored

Blenkinsopp A, Paxton P. Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1998.

Online document

Doe J. Title of subordinate document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed 15 Jan 1999.

Online database

Healthwise Knowledgebase. US Pharmacopeia, Rockville. 1998. http://www.healthwise.org. Accessed 21 Sept 1998.

Supplementary material/private homepage

Doe J. Title of supplementary material. 2000. http://www.privatehomepage.com. Accessed 22 Feb 2000.

University site

Doe, J: Title of preprint. http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/mydata.html (1999). Accessed 25 Dec 1999.

Doe, J: Trivial HTTP, RFC2169. ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2169.txt (1999). Accessed 12 Nov 1999.

Organization site

ISSN International Centre: The ISSN register. http://www.issn.org (2006). Accessed 20 Feb 2007.

Dataset with persistent identifier

Zheng L-Y, Guo X-S, He B, Sun L-J, Peng Y, Dong S-S, et al. Genome data from sweet and grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). GigaScience Database. 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.5524/100012 .

Figures, tables and additional files

See  General formatting guidelines  for information on how to format figures, tables and additional files.

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Reproductive Health

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    3 top tips when writing a case report: Keep an eye out for challenging cases - they don't have to be rare. Select one which has an important message, ideally relevant to lots of other clinicians. Write the report to focus on the message and present it like the best telephone referral you have ever made. To see a recent webinar on "How to ...

  10. How to write a clinical case report

    In their defence, case reports remain an excellent complement to evidence-based medicine. Through the development of medicine both veterinary and medicine, case reports have provided a way of relaying clinical experience and disseminating knowledge, and in some cases, have provided pivotal observations changing medical understanding and practice.

  11. LibGuides: Case Reports: How to Write a Case Report

    The narrative: A case report tells a story in a narrative format that includes the presenting concerns, clinical findings, diagnoses, interventions, outcomes (including adverse events), and follow-up. The narrative should include a discussion of the rationale for any conclusions and any take-away messages.

  12. How to write a case report

    Step 2: Case report writing. The CARE-writer™ online tool helps you create clinical case report manuscripts following the CARE guidelines, a standard for evidence-based case reports. With built-in explanatory information and examples of well-written text, it will support you step-by-step in writing your case report.

  13. Guideline on writing a case report

    The clinical case report has been an integral part of medical literature throughout history. The oldest example of a preserved clinical case in medical literature is a text from an ancient Egyptian papyrus dating from the 16 th to the 17 th dynasty, 1600 BC, addressing the management of dislocated jawbone. From Hippocratic case histories ...

  14. Developing a Beginner's Guide to Writing a Clinical Case Report: A

    Introduction Writing a case report increases one's knowledge about a particular disease condition, demonstrates intellectual curiosity and commitment to scientific inquiry and the ability to follow through on scholarly projects. Despite several articles and journal-specific instructions published concerning case report writing, none have been evaluated by their intended audience.

  15. PDF 10. Guideline and Template for Writing a Case Report/Case Series

    By following these ten steps, you now have a complete set of notes and references for your case report. What you need to do next is put it all together and format it as a case report. This time you will arrange your manuscript differently. Part Two: Writing your second draft Step 11: Start by writing the entire text and listing the references.

  16. How to Write Your First Clinical Case Report

    1. Prepare to ask a lot of questions As you assist authors, one of the most important ways to set yourself up for success is to ask plenty of questions, including: What key takeaway message will this clinical case report address for clinicians? What can you assume readers will already know?

  17. A young researcher's guide to writing a clinical case report

    Clinical case reports are the first-line evidence in medical literature as they present original observations and can be an excellent way for medical students and practitioners to get started with academic writing. Additionally, a published case report is definitely a contribution to medical science and a great addition to a CV.

  18. How to Write Your First Clinical Case Report

    The JACC: Case Reports authors instructions suggest a specific structure for a clinical case: history of presentation, physical examination, past medical history, differential diagnosis, investigations, management (medical/interventions), discussion, follow-up, conclusions, and learning objectives.

  19. Infographic: How to Write A Clinical Case Report

    Infographic: How to Write A Clinical Case Report. Good case reports, whether they be from medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine or other disciplines, have the potential to make a positive contribution to global health outcomes and clinical understanding. In this infographic, Dr Charles Young, Editor-in-Chief of open access journal Clinical ...

  20. BMJ Case Reports how to write a case report

    Simply select Global Health Competition when you submit a global health case report. Visit the BMJ Case Reports homepage for more information at casereports.bmj.com and contact the editor-in-chief at [email protected] . How to write a case report: 5/23.

  21. Guidelines To Writing A Clinical Case Report

    Guidelines To Writing A Clinical Case Report. Guidelines To Writing A Clinical Case Report Heart Views. 2017 Jul-Sep;18(3):104-105. doi: 10.4103/1995-705X.217857. PMID: 29184619 PMCID: PMC5686928 DOI: 10.4103/1995-705X.217857 No abstract available ...

  22. How to write a clinical case report

    How to write a clinical case report Editorial Equine vet. Educ. (2019) 31 (12) 620-623 doi: 10.1111/eve.13026 How to write a clinical case report Summary A case report should communicate a novel occurrence, manifestation or management of a case.

  23. A guide to writing case reports for the Journal of Medical Case Reports

    Published case reports provide essential information for optimal patient care because they can describe important scientific observations that are missed or undetected in clinical trials, and provide individual clinical insights thus expanding our knowledge base [ 3 ].

  24. Case report

    Background: why the case should be reported and its novelty; Case presentation: a brief description of the patient's clinical and demographic details, the diagnosis, any interventions and the outcomes; Conclusions: a brief summary of the clinical impact or potential implications of the case report; Keywords