How to Get a Case Report Published Sooner

No honest journal can promise when your case report will be published. What you can do is remove the delays that come from the manuscript itself. Most of them are avoidable.

Written informed consent from the patient, or from a legal guardian or next of kin where appropriate, is required by most journals. A missing or unclear consent form is one of the commonest reasons a case report is held at screening.

2. Follow the CARE guideline

The CARE reporting guideline sets out what a case report should contain, from the timeline to the patient's perspective. Editors and reviewers look for these items. Using the checklist at the start saves a revision round later. See our case report template.

3. Make the teaching point clear

Reviewers ask "what does a reader learn?" State it in the abstract and again in the discussion. A case with a clear lesson is easier to assess.

4. Pick a journal that fits

A paper outside a journal's scope can be returned without review, and you start again elsewhere. Check what the journal publishes and read a few recent case reports there.

5. Submit a complete package

  • Manuscript formatted to the author guidelines, within the word limit.
  • Figures as separate, readable files, with patient identifiers removed.
  • Title page, declarations, funding and conflict-of-interest statements.
  • Consent confirmation and, if needed, ethics statement.

6. Revise quickly and completely

When revisions are requested, answer every comment point by point and say exactly what you changed. Partial answers lead to another round.

About ASIDE Case Reports

ASIDE Case Reports publishes case reports, case series and clinical images under double-anonymous peer review, with no fee at any stage. We do not offer paid fast-tracking or promise publication dates.

Submit your case report, free Why publish with ASIDE Case Reports →