01 October 2023
: Editorial 
Editorial: The Increasing Relevance of Case Reports in Medical Education and Clinical Practice – and How to Write Them
Dinah V. Parums1CDEF*DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.942670
Am J Case Rep 2023; 24:e942670
Table 1. Preparing to write a case report: What to do and what not to do.
| Preparation | What to Do (Dos) | What Not to Do (Don’ts) |
|---|---|---|
| Choice of Case | Choose a case or cases that are either rare, reflect a current trend, are a topic of clinical importance, or are educational. | Do not use a case report to promote your hypothesis or a medical device or a novel treatment or drug. |
| Supporting Clinical Information | Ensure you have all the diagnostic information, including imaging and laboratory findings. | Do not present a diagnosis without credible supporting diagnostic information. |
| Clinical Input | Write the manuscript with input from all clinicians involved in the case. | Do not write a case report without supervision or input from other clinicians and pathologists. |
| Choice of Authors | The authors should have been involved in and responsible for the diagnosis and management of the patient. | Trainees or medical students should not write and author the report with supervision from their attending/senior clinician. |
| Consent from the Patient | Patient consent to write the report is mandatory, as is consent to use any information and images. Case reports of children should include informed consent from the parent/guardian. | Do not write the report or use any images without patient consent.Never submit a case report of a child without informed consent from the parent/guardian. |
| Other Ethical Considerations | The privacy and anonymity of the patient should be maintained. | Never show personal information, such as the name of the patient. Never show the full face of the patient in any figures. |
| Choice of Journal | Factors affecting your choice may include: general or specialized journal; journal impact factor (IF); where the journal is indexed and abstracted. | Do not choose a journal that is not accessible by clinicians who would be interested and informed by the case. |
| Originality of the Manuscript | Please ensure that all written content, figures, and tables are original and have not been previously published.If the case report has been presented in abstract form at a meeting, please acknowledge this and re-write any duplicated content. | Do not breach copyright to a previous publisher by submitting self-plagiarized written content. Do not breach copyright to a previous publisher by submitting previously published figures and tables.Be sure to acknowledge a previous publication in abstract form. |