Case Reports

Criteria

STDJ-NS section: Health Science considers medical case reports that describe any clinical case. Case reports submitted to STDJ-NS do not need to be novel, but must be authentic cases and have some educational value.

Case report articles should include relevant positive and negative findings from history, examination and investigation, and can include clinical photographs, provided these are accompanied by written consent to publish from the patient(s). Case report articles should include an up-to-date review of all previous cases in the field. Case reports will be reviewed by a member of the editorial board and may also undergo external peer review.

Authors should seek written and signed consent to publish the information from the patients or their guardians prior to submission. The editorial office may request copies of the informed consent documentation upon submission of the manuscript.

 

Submission process

Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. The submitting author takes responsibility for the article during submission and peer review.

To facilitate rapid publication and to minimize administrative costs, STDJ-NS prefers online submission.

 

File formats

The following word processor file formats are acceptable for the main manuscript document:

  • Microsoft word (DOC, DOCX)
  • Rich text format (RTF)
  • Portable document format (PDF)
  • TeX/LaTeX

 

Overview of manuscript sections for Case Report

Manuscripts for Case Report submitted to this journal should be divided into the following sections (in this order):

  • Title page
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Background
  • Case presentation
  • Conclusions
  • Consent
  • List of abbreviations used (if any)
  • Competing interests
  • Authors' contributions
  • Authors' information
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
  • Illustrations and figures (if any)
  • Tables and captions (if any)
  • Preparing additional files

 

Title page

The title page should:

  • provide the title of the article
  • list the full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors
  • indicate the corresponding author

Please note:

  • abbreviations within the title should be avoided

Abstract

The abstract must not exceed 350 words. Please do not use abbreviations or references in the abstract. The abstract should be structured into three sections: Background, an introduction about why this case is important and needs to be reported. Please include information on whether this is the first report of this kind in the literature; Case presentation, brief details of what the patient(s) presented with, including the patient's age, sex and ethnic background; Conclusion, a brief conclusion of what the reader should learn from the case report and what the clinical impact will be. Is it an original case report of interest to a particular clinical specialty of medicine or will it have a broader clinical impact across medicine?

Keywords

Three to ten keywords representing the main content of the article.

Background

This should give an introduction to the Case Report from the standpoint of those without specialist knowledge in the area, clearly explaining the background of the topic. This section should include a short literature review, and should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the article.

Case presentation

This should present all details concerning the case, as well as a discussion with references to the literature. The case presentation should contain a description of the patient's relevant demographic information (without adding any details that could lead to the identification of the patient), any relevant medical history of the patient, the patient's symptoms and signs, any tests that were carried out, and a description of any treatment or intervention. This section may be broken into subsections with appropriate subheadings.

Conclusions

This should state clearly the main conclusions of the Case Report and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance. Summary illustrations may be included.

Consent

This section should provide a statement to confirm that the patient has given their consent for the Case Report to be published. The editorial office may request copies of the informed consent documentation at any time. We recommend the following wording is used for the consent section: "Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this Case Report and any accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal."

If the patient has died, then consent for publication must be sought from the next of kin of the patient. If the patient is a minor, or unable to provide consent, then consent must be sought from the parents or legal guardians of the patient. In these cases, the statement in the 'Consent' section of the manuscript should be amended accordingly.

List of abbreviations

If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text at first use, and a list of abbreviations can be provided, which should precede the competing interests and authors' contributions.

Competing interests

A competing interest exists when your interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations. Authors must disclose any financial competing interests; they should also reveal any non-financial competing interests that may cause them embarrassment were they to become public after the publication of the manuscript.

Authors are required to complete a declaration of competing interests. All competing interests that are declared will be listed at the end of published articles. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read 'The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests'.

When completing your declaration, please consider the following questions:

Financial competing interests

  • In the past five years have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? Is such an organization financing this manuscript (including the article-processing charge)? If so, please specify.
  • Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organization that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future? If so, please specify.
  • Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the manuscript? Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript? If so, please specify.
  • Do you have any other financial competing interests? If so, please specify.

Non-financial competing interests

Are there any non-financial competing interests (political, personal, religious, ideological, academic, intellectual, commercial or any other) to declare in relation to this manuscript? If so, please specify.

If you are unsure as to whether you, or one your co-authors, has a competing interest please discuss it with the editorial office.

Authors' contributions

In order to give appropriate credit to each author of a paper, the individual contributions of authors to the manuscript should be specified in this section.

According to ICMJE guidelines, An 'author' is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. To qualify as an author one should 1) have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) have been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; 3) have given final approval of the version to be published; and 4) agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship.

We suggest the following kind of format (please use initials to refer to each author's contribution): AB carried out the molecular genetic studies, participated in the sequence alignment and drafted the manuscript. JY carried out the immunoassays. MT participated in the sequence alignment. ES participated in the design of the study and performed the statistical analysis. FG conceived of the study, and participated in its design and coordination and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Authors' information

You may choose to use this section to include any relevant information about the author(s) that may aid the reader's interpretation of the article, and understand the standpoint of the author(s). This may include details about the authors' qualifications, current positions they hold at institutions or societies, or any other relevant background information. Please refer to authors using their initials. Note this section should not be used to describe any competing interests.

Acknowledgements

Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the article by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please also include the source(s) of funding for each author, and for the manuscript preparation. Authors must describe the role of the funding body, if any, in design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Please also acknowledge anyone who contributed materials essential for the study. If a language editor has made significant revision of the manuscript, we recommend that you acknowledge the editor by name, where possible.

Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

Endnotes

Endnotes should be designated within the text using a superscript lowercase letter and all notes (along with their corresponding letter) should be included in the Endnotes section. Please format this section in a paragraph rather than a list.

References

STDJ-NS uses the reference style of VANCOUVER style. You should use reference manager software such as Endnote during the manuscript preparation.  And then format reference with Vancouver style. 

Vancouver is a numbered referencing style commonly used in medicine and science, and consists of:

  • citations to someone else's work in the text, indicated by the use of a number
  • a sequentially numbered reference list at the end of the document providing full details of the corresponding in-text reference

It follows rules established by the International committee of Medical Journal Editors, now maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It is also known as Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals.

For examples:

  1. O'Campo P, Dunn JR, editors. Rethinking social epidemiology: towards a science of change. Dordrecht: Springer; 2012. 348 p.
  2. Schiraldi GR. Post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook: a guide to healing, recovery, and growth [Internet]. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2000 [cited 2006 Nov 6]. 446 p. Available from: http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/getbook.php?isbn=0071393722&template=#toc DOI: 10.1036/0737302658
  3. Halpen-Felsher BL, Morrell HE. Preventing and reducing tobacco use. In: Berlan ED, Bravender T, editors. Adolescent medicine today: a guide to caring for the adolescent patient [Internet]. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co.; 2012 [cited 2012 Nov 3]. Chapter 18. Available from: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/ 10.1142/9789814324496_0018
  4. Stockhausen L, Turale S. An explorative study of Australian nursing scholars and contemporary scholarship. J Nurs Scholarsh [Internet]. 2011 Mar [cited 2013 Feb 19];43(1):89-96. Available from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/docview/858241255?accountid=12528
  5. Kanneganti P, Harris JD, Brophy RH, Carey JL, Lattermann C, Flanigan DC. The effect of smoking on ligament and cartilage surgery in the knee: a systematic review. Am J Sports Med [Internet]. 2012 Dec [cited 2013 Feb 19];40(12):2872-8. Available from: http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/40/12/2872 DOI: 10.1177/0363546512458223
  6. Subbarao M. Tough cases in carotid stenting [DVD]. Woodbury (CT): Cine-Med, Inc.; 2003. 1 DVD: sound, color, 4 3/4 in.
  7. Stem cells in the brain [television broadcast]. Catalyst. Sydney: ABC; 2009 Jun 25.

 

Preparing illustrations and figures

Illustrations should be provided as separate files, not embedded in the text file.

Each figure should include a single illustration and should fit on a single page in portrait format.

If a figure consists of separate parts, it is important that a single composite illustration file be submitted which contains all parts of the figure.

There is no charge for the use of color figures.

Formats

The following file formats can be accepted:

� PDF (preferred format for diagrams)

� DOCX/DOC (single page only)

� PPTX/PPT (single slide only)

� EPS

� PNG (preferred format for photos or images)

� TIFF

� JPEG

� BMP

STDJ will edit all figures supplied by the author. For this reason it is especially important that authors should supply figures in vector form, to facilitate such editing.

Figure legends

The legends should be included in the main manuscript text file at the end of the document, rather than being a part of the figure file.

For each figure, the following information should be provided: Figure number (in sequence, using Arabic numerals - i.e. Figure 1, 2, 3 etc); short title of figure (maximum 15 words); detailed legend, up to 300 words.

Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures or tables that have previously been published elsewhere.

Preparing tables

Each table should be numbered and cited in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, 2, 3 etc.).

Tables should also have a title (above the table) that summarizes the whole table; it should be no longer than 15 words. Detailed legends may then follow, but they should be concise.

Tables should always be cited in text in consecutive numerical order. Smaller tables considered to be integral to the manuscript can be pasted into the end of the document text file, in A4 portrait or landscape format.

These will be typeset and displayed in the final published form of the article. Such tables should be formatted using the 'Table object' in a word processing program to ensure that columns of data are kept aligned when the file is sent electronically for review; this will not always be the case if columns are generated by simply using tabs to separate text. Columns and rows of data should be made visibly distinct by ensuring that the borders of each cell display as black lines. Commas should not be used to indicate numerical values. Color and shading may not be used; parts of the table can be highlighted using symbols or bold text, the meaning of which should be explained in a table legend.

Tables should not be embedded as figures or spreadsheet files. Larger datasets or tables too wide for a landscape page can be uploaded separately as additional files.

Additional files will not be displayed in the final, laid-out PDF of the article, but a link will be provided to the files as supplied by the author.

Tabular data provided as additional files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls ) or comma separated values (.csv).

As with all files, please use the standard file extensions.