Submissions

Author Guidelines

Our requirements for submitted manuscripts are in accordance with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. For general information about the structure and content of a biomedical manuscript, authors should get familiar with the ICMJE Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts before reading the instructions for Journal of Medical Cases below.

General Requirements

Important notes: If you submit manuscripts via the online submission system, the first step is to register as a user of this site, make sure to check to register as Author, then you may add yourself as a Reader or/and a Reviewer as you like. 

All manuscripts should be submitted electronically via our website (jmc.elmerpub.com) or via email (jmc@elmerpub.com), submissions via regular postal mail are not acceptable at the moment. Manuscripts should be double-spaced (including references, tables, and figure legends). Though Journal of Medical Cases does not enforce a word limit for the manuscript, we suggest that the length of manuscript be at least 2500 words (excluding references), with full description of the case(s), complete discussion and literature review.

Before submitting online, authors are asked to have their manuscript saved in word file and each figure saved as a separate electronic file, preferably named as "figure 1.tif," "figure 2.jpg," etc.

Manuscripts are accepted for consideration with the understanding that they have been submitted solely to Journal of Medical Cases and that they have not been previously published, either in whole or in part. Journal of Medical Cases is a fully peer-reviewed journal. The editors reserve the right to make editorial changes in all matter published in the Journal.

Clinical Trials Registration

Authors are encouraged to register their clinical trials with an international recognized clinical trials register, such as: clinicaltrials.gov; the EU Clinical Trials Register; WHO Clinical Trials Registry Platform.

Case Report Guidelines

Authors are suggested (not required) to follow the CARE Case Report Guidelines when preparing the case report manuscript. Click here to download the customized Case Report Guidelines. Click here to download the CARE checklist.

Authorship

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria (www.icjme.org):
1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding Author

There must be a corresponding author (not more than 2 in a manuscript) clearly indicated in the title page, with his/her full academic affiliation, contact information (email, tel).

The corresponding author is the person who is taking the responsibilities of the  manuscript being prepared following research and publishing integrity and ethics.

The galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author for proofreading. Meanwhile, the galley proof might be also “carbon copy, CC”to the submitting individual, but that is not for all articles.

“The corresponding author is the one individual who takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process, and typically ensures that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and gathering conflict of interest forms and statements, are properly completed, although these duties may be delegated to one or more coauthors. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication”( www.icjme.org).

Submitting Author

The submitting author is the person who carries out the submission work and submits the manuscript (usually via online submission portal) to the journal. The submitting author is not necessarily the corresponding author, however, upon receiving the manuscript submitted by the individual (submitting author) other than the corresponding author, we assume that the submitting author has obtained explicit permission from the corresponding author to do so, and we assume that the corresponding author is fully aware of and approves the submission and oversees the editorial procedures of the manuscript.

In this circumstance, a submission approval letter from the corresponding author might be requested by the editor, and the corresponding author should provide such letter before we do any processing of the manuscript.

Valid Email Address

The submitting author and corresponding author are responsible for providing valid and attended email address, and should check the email regularly, in order not to delay the editorial procedure.

The galley proof will be sent to the corresponding author for proofreading. Meanwhile, the galley proof might be also sent “carbon copy, CC” to the submitting individual, but that is not for all articles.

Preparation of Manuscripts

The manuscript should be written in English and the editors reserve the right to make appropriate corrections in grammar and style. Authors are suggested to follow the CARE Case Report Guidelines when preparing the case report manuscript. Click here to download the customized Case Report Guidelines. Click here to download the checklist. Please note, to follow the CARE format is optional, not required.

Title Page
Should include title, authors, departments, institutions, corresponding address, grant, conflict of interest, short title.

Title: Use no abbreviations. Limit: 150 characters with spaces.
Short Title: Limit 45 characters (with spaces).

Authors
Include first and last names of all authors, and include the name and full location of department and institution where the work was performed.

Grant Support
List grant support and other assistance if applicable.

Correspondence
Provide name, complete address, e-mail address, telephone number of the corresponding author.

Abstract
Limit: 350 words. Organized as non-structured abstract. Do not use footnotes, or references.

Keywords
Provide up to 8 keywords.

Introduction
Should be brief and set out the purposes why the case is worth being published, the background, its uniqueness, rarity, and potential contribution to the current knowledge of the relevant disease.

Case Report
In this section, the details of the case should be described, including:
Investigations
Diagnosis
Treatment
Follow-up and outcome

Discussion
Discussion should be directly related to the case being reported, comment the novel findings and their clinical significance, and the clinical experiences obtained from the case. Do not include a general review of the topic only. An in-depth and insightful discussion in regarding to the new findings is encouraged.
Learning points should be included in the discussion.

Tables
Tables should be prepared without the use of tabs; most table editor programs can be uploaded successfully. Tables can be prepared using Word Table tool.

Figures
Images: Images can be clinical, pathologic (gross or microscopic), or radiographic. They should be of high quality (300 dpi or greater, clear, and in good focus). 

Accepted figure file formats: We support the following file formats: .bmp, .gif, .jpg,  .png, .tif, .eps. When sending image files, please do not embed them in Word or PowerPoint. You may submit mixed file formats such as image1.jpg, image2.tif, image3.eps. Preferred figure file formats: .tiff, .psd .eps and .jpg.

File naming convention: Figures should be named consecutively such as "figure 1.tif," "figure 2.jpg," etc., with the file extension appended (.tif, .jpg, .eps, etc). Each figure should be saved as a separate electronic file. 

Photographs of identifiable patients must come with written permission for publication from the patient.

You must add arrows if necessary on the figure to call out the relevant or important element of the figure, the legend should state what the arrows indicate.

References
Number references in the order cited as Arabic numerals in square brackets on the line. Only literature that is published or in press (with the name of the publication known) may be numbered and listed; abstracts and letters to the editor may be cited. Other materials, such as manuscripts submitted, unpublished data, personal communications, and the like, should not be cited.

List all authors up to seven, using "et al." when the number is greater than seven.

Joffe SW, Dewolf M, Shih J, McManus DD, Spencer FA, Lessard D, Gore JM, et al. Trends in the medical management of patients with heart failure. J Clin Med Res. 2013;5(3):194-204.

Figure and table legends
Please do not embed or flatten the text into the image files. Legends should be in Word file and start from a new page, and numbered corresponding to the appearing order in the text.

Length of Manuscript

The length of manuscript is suggested no less than 2500 words (excluding the references), with full description of the case, clinical and laboratory findings, complete and insightful discussions with literature review.

Submission Declarations (Conflict of Interest, Informed Consent, and others)

Please include the following declarations, any submissions missing a single item of declaration will be returned for resubmission.

• Acknowledgement
  • Financial Disclosure or Funding
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Informed Consent
  • Author Contributions
  • Data Availability

#If any of above item not applicable or there is none to declare, just state “Not applicable” or “None to declare”, BUT there must be such item in the article, it can’t be missing.

Review Process

Reviewers provide comments for the editor and for the authors. The Journal expects reviewers to treat manuscripts as confidential communications and not to use the content for their own purposes or make copies of the manuscripts. Reviewers are also expected to declare to the editor any possible conflicts of interest. Details for peer-review process.

Suggesting Peer Reviewers

In you cover letter, please provide at least 3 potential reviewers who have not conflict of interest with all authors.

Decisions

The single most important criterion for acceptance is the originality of the work. However, a decision to accept a manuscript is not based solely on the scientific validity of its content. Other factors may affect decisions, such factors are, the extent and importance of new information in the paper compared with that in other papers being considered, the Journal's need to represent a wide range of topics, and the overall suitability for Journal of Medical Cases. Decisions on peer-reviewed papers are sent to the authors via email within an average of 3 weeks from the date of submission.

Editing

Accepted papers are subject to copyediting according to the style of Journal of Medical Cases, authors will be sent galleys (HTML and PDF) for proofreading. The authors need to approve all the statements contained in the article including the changes the copyeditor has made before publication.

Disclaimer

The statements and opinions contained in this journal are solely those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors or the publisher. The appearance of advertisements in the Journal is not a warranty, endorsement or approval of the products or services advertised or of their safety. The Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas or products referred to in the articles or advertisements.

Open Access Publishing Charge

This is an open access journal, an open access Article Publishing Charge is required for accepted articles, click here for rates details. Upon acceptance for publication, this fee is payable, an invoice will be sent to the submitting author or corresponding author.

Corrections and Retractions

If serious error or scientific misconduct occurs, the article will be retracted during any stage of publishing. If the paper with error has been published, and the error is minor without affecting the overall results and conclusions of the study, a correction statement will be published in the next available issue. If errors occur during the editing/copyediting or proofreading because of the publisher, a correction will be published as erratum.

Manuscript Funding Agencies

If your manuscript was NIH- or HHMI-funded, or funded by UK, Europe or Canada agencies, you may click here for more information of PubMed Central deposit after your article is published.

Use of AI Tools (such as ChatGPT)

1. AI  tools (such as ChatGPT) cannot be listed as an author of a paper.
2. If authors use AI tools (such as ChatGPT) in the preparation of a manuscript, they must disclose how the AI tool was used and extent of the usage, in which parts or sections the AI tool was used.
3. Use of AI tools but without disclosure in the manuscript constitutes academic misconduct.
4. Manuscript authors are ultimately responsible for the submitted work.

Units

Authors are encouraged to use SI units, SI is preferred for the expression of length, area, mass, and volume. Blood pressures can be in millimeters of mercury, temperatures can be in degrees Celsius, all measured values must be accompanied with units.