General Format Guidelines for Case Reports
Below are general formatting guidelines; however, you should also review journal-specific submission guidelines and several examples of case reports from your target journal in order to fully familiar with the format of published case reports in that journal.
- General formatting guidelines:
- typed using Microsoft Word; 12-point Times New Roman font
- formatted with margins set at 1" for top and bottom and 1.25" for left and right
- double-spaced, following the target journal’s guidelines and specifications
- carefully checked for spelling, grammar, and punctuation
- Specific formatting guidelines:
- Final case report must conform to the style format and guidelines specified by the target journal’s submission guidelines (e.g., American Medical Association Manual of Style, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association).
- In addition to the hard copies of the various manuals of style, such as the American Medical Association Manual of Style, Heritage College students should be able to access the clinical campus’ medical library, as well as websites that offer explanations of these styles. A helpful resource is listed below as an example.
- The website contains the complete, most up-to-date version of Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication. This is very similar to AMA style, and virtually all medical journals will accept manuscripts following this style.
- The case report may include a combination of the following components:
- Title Page
- Title: This should concisely convey the focus of the report.
- Author Names and Affiliations: Heritage College students should use their Heritage College affiliation details rather than the affiliation details of their clinical site and/or the affiliation details of their mentor (if different from HCOM/91̽»¨).
- Abstract (if required): This should be one paragraph, typically not exceeding 125 words. It is important to note that some journals do not require an abstract as part of a case report.
- Key Words: These should be MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms.
- Body
- The inclusion of appropriate headings should follow rules and example case reports from the target journal.
- Introduction: This establishes framework of patient case.
- Case Report: This includes the chief complaint; history of presenting illness; pertinent family history, risk factors, review of systems and pertinent clinical, physical, structural, and pathological findings; diagnostic studies; differential diagnosis; rationale for concluding clinical diagnosis; preferred, actual, and alternative treatment as appropriate.
- Discussion: This includes the etiology and review of current related literature supporting or refuting diagnosis; plan of treatment; and appropriate osteopathic components, minority health issues, patient safety issues, and complementary and alternative medicine issues.
- Comments: This should be a summary of the most important aspects of patient care and medical significance or direction for further study.
- References
- Some journals will restrict the number of references that may be used in a case report.
- Relevant Figures
- Charts, graphs, illustrations, diagrams, or tables should be included on separate pages at the end of the article, with legends; some journals will limit the number of these in their submission guidelines. Some journals will specify that photos be included with the submission (e.g., dermatology cases).
- Title Page