Case reports can provide detailed information about a medical condition and can act as the first line of evidence for an adverse effect to medicine or a new emerging disease; however, they are often disregarded in the medical literature. To address this issue, Journal of Medical Case Reports has sought to provide a dedicated home to high quality case reports that expand medical knowledge. This week the journal launches its first thematic series on the importance of case reporting across all fields of medicine, edited by Editor-in-Chief Professor Michael Kidd.

This collection features articles highlighting the benefits of case reporting in neurology, skull base surgery, oncology, oral medicine and infectious disease. In addition, Dr Kam Cheong Wong describes how an Ishikawa diagram can be used to organize case reports to learn about cause and effect in medicine; Dr Geoff Wong also details how journals like Journal of Medical Case Reports can be used as an educational tool to help clinicians in decision-making.  Dr Aristotle D Protopapas and Dr Thanos Athanasiou discuss evolving dimensions in case reporting and the journal’s lead editorial outlines why case reports should not be disregarded, noting that they provide important and detailed information about individuals, which is often lost in larger studies.

The series highlights useful aspects of case reports and encourages doctors everywhere to continue case reporting.

All articles are available on the series page of the Journal of Medical Case Reports website.