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Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list

BACKGROUND: Case reports are frequently published in the health care literature, however advice on preparing such reports using the "instructions to authors" pages of journals is alleged to be limited. However, to our knowledge, this has not been formally evaluated. As roles of case report...

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Autores principales: Sorinola, Olanrewaju, Olufowobi, Olufemi, Coomarasamy, Aravinthan, Khan, Khalid S
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2004
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC400744/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15043755
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-4-4
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author Sorinola, Olanrewaju
Olufowobi, Olufemi
Coomarasamy, Aravinthan
Khan, Khalid S
author_facet Sorinola, Olanrewaju
Olufowobi, Olufemi
Coomarasamy, Aravinthan
Khan, Khalid S
author_sort Sorinola, Olanrewaju
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Case reports are frequently published in the health care literature, however advice on preparing such reports using the "instructions to authors" pages of journals is alleged to be limited. However, to our knowledge, this has not been formally evaluated. As roles of case reports may vary according to the case and the clinical specialities, one might expect the advice to authors to vary according to journal clinical grouping. METHODS: We surveyed the current advice available to authors of case reports from 'instructions to authors' pages of a core collection of 249 journals ('Hague' list). These were examined and compared for advice or recommendation on writing case reports. Of these, 163 (65%) published case reports and provided instructions on this publication type. Data were extracted on items of style and content of case reports, using a piloted data extraction form. RESULTS: Journals that published case reports were grouped into medical (n = 81, 50%), surgical (n = 38, 23%) and generic or multidisciplinary (n = 44, 27%) categories. There was a difference among the medical, surgical and generic or multidisciplinary journals in the maximum number of words and pages allowed but no difference in the number of figures, tables, references, authors, abstract or synopsis, indexing or key words and consent. Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference among the three different categories of journals regarding the content of the case reports. CONCLUSIONS: Of the journals reviewed, we found that 'instructions to authors' pages provided limited and varied information for preparing a case report. There is a need for consensus, and more consistent guidance for authors of case report.
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spelling pubmed-4007442004-05-02 Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list Sorinola, Olanrewaju Olufowobi, Olufemi Coomarasamy, Aravinthan Khan, Khalid S BMC Med Educ Research Article BACKGROUND: Case reports are frequently published in the health care literature, however advice on preparing such reports using the "instructions to authors" pages of journals is alleged to be limited. However, to our knowledge, this has not been formally evaluated. As roles of case reports may vary according to the case and the clinical specialities, one might expect the advice to authors to vary according to journal clinical grouping. METHODS: We surveyed the current advice available to authors of case reports from 'instructions to authors' pages of a core collection of 249 journals ('Hague' list). These were examined and compared for advice or recommendation on writing case reports. Of these, 163 (65%) published case reports and provided instructions on this publication type. Data were extracted on items of style and content of case reports, using a piloted data extraction form. RESULTS: Journals that published case reports were grouped into medical (n = 81, 50%), surgical (n = 38, 23%) and generic or multidisciplinary (n = 44, 27%) categories. There was a difference among the medical, surgical and generic or multidisciplinary journals in the maximum number of words and pages allowed but no difference in the number of figures, tables, references, authors, abstract or synopsis, indexing or key words and consent. Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference among the three different categories of journals regarding the content of the case reports. CONCLUSIONS: Of the journals reviewed, we found that 'instructions to authors' pages provided limited and varied information for preparing a case report. There is a need for consensus, and more consistent guidance for authors of case report. BioMed Central 2004-03-25 /pmc/articles/PMC400744/ /pubmed/15043755 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-4-4 Text en Copyright © 2004 Sorinola et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sorinola, Olanrewaju
Olufowobi, Olufemi
Coomarasamy, Aravinthan
Khan, Khalid S
Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list
title Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list
title_full Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list
title_fullStr Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list
title_full_unstemmed Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list
title_short Instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: A review of a core journal list
title_sort instructions to authors for case reporting are limited: a review of a core journal list
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC400744/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15043755
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-4-4
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