How to publish a case report

Dr Kieran Walsh, Editor,

BMJ Learning

Case report

Rare or unreported • Condition • Feature of condition• Association • Complication • Intervention

Stages in writing a case report

• Finding a rare case

• Collecting information related to the case

• Literature search

• Writing

Consent

• Written• Don’t anonymise• Consent form of publication • Informed consent • Patient’s phone number

Finding a case

• Your own• Ask around• “Bottom drawer”

Did it happen before?

• Ask• Your own literature search• Librarian literature search

Writing a case report

Introduction - very short

The report— the story• History – only positives • Exam – only positives • Tests • Progress• Treatment and outcome

Discussion—review of literature• Message• ?? Recommendations

References

Writing a case report

• Get copies—do not take the originals • Digital copies

How to get accepted

• Rare rare rare • Relevant • Science/scientific arguments

What journal?

• BMJ• General medical journal • Specialist journals • Journal of medical case reports• BMJ case reports

• . . . and how many authors? 2!

Choose the meeting

• Does it take abstracts? • Is there a chance it would take yours? • Does it publish abstracts in a journal

supplement?

• Will I be able to go? • Will I get a reduced fee as a presenter?

Choose the meeting

• The abstract deadline – six months ahead?

• Will they accept “work in progress”?

Write it up

• What happens to your abstract on submission?

How to avoid automatic rejection?

• Word count• Format • Font size

Potential problems

Authorship

Authorship credit should be based on: • Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data,

or analysis and interpretation of data?• Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual

content?• Final approval of the version to be published? • All of the above?

To avoid disputes over attribution of academic credit, decide before you start. Read the target journal’s “Advice to Authors.” Don’t gift authorship.

Conflicts of interest?

• You received a travel bursary of £200 from a relevant company two years ago

• You own stock in a competing company • You are a member of an academic body that may be

influenced as a result of research even though you will not benefit personally in any way

• You have based your research reputation on a certain treatment even though you have no financial interests in the treatment

Conflicts of interest

• May be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial

• “Financial” interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies, and company support for staff

Conflicts of interest arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that are not fully apparent and that MAY influence their judgments on what is published. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a REASONABLE reader feel misled or deceived.

Conflicts of interest?

• The solution?• Declare them