"Clinicians have the privilege of dealing with individuals in all their
complexity and magnificence. Every person, every "case" can teach us
something."
This idea, explained by the Editor-in-Chief, Richard Smith in his launch editorial, is the philosophy behind the new Cases Journal, launched this week. The journal will publish case reports from any area of healthcare.
Any case report that is understandable, ethical, authentic and includes all essential information will be published – there are no acceptance criteria based on interest level or importance. The ethos of Cases Journal is that every case is important, no matter how ‘everyday’.
Every case report, along with those from Journal of Medical Case Reports, its sister journal, will be incorporated into a database which will allow users to find exactly the cases they need, searching by things like age, sex, presentation, past medical history, comorbidity, and smoking history.
Cases Journal enables patients to contribute directly to medical understanding of their disease. Authors are encouraged to involve their patient in writing the case
report, by including a ‘Patient’s perspective’ where the
patient describes in their own words their symptoms, when they were better or
worse, and how they were affected by tests and treatments.
By welcoming submission of case reports from any physician on any patient, and publishing hopefully thousands of case reports each year, Cases Journal aims to capture ‘the wisdom of the crowds’. Publication is open to those who have never contributed to a medical journal before – we hope anyone who has treated a patient will submit.
Visit the website or watch Richard Smith’s video message to find out how to become part of this exciting new venture.
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