Author Guidelines

Voice of Doctors Journal of Case Reports is an online General Surgery and Medicine journal dedicating to publishing case reports and case series only which must be authentic, understandable, educational and clinically interesting to an international audience of surgeons, physicians and clinicians in related specialties.

All case reports and case series submitted need to comply with the relevant case report reporting criteria – CARE. The journal will offer authors a rapid submission to decision time and a fast online publication process thereafter. 

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Please check the relevant section in this Guide for Authors for more details.

Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address
• Full postal address

 

All necessary files have been uploaded:

Manuscript:

• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, description, footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Indicate clearly if colour should be used for any figures in print

 

Graphical Abstracts / Highlights files (where applicable)

Supplemental files (where applicable)

Further considerations

• Manuscript has been ‘spell checked’ and ‘grammar checked’
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed
• Referee suggestions and contact details provided, based on journal requirements

 

ARTICLE TYPES

1. Case Reports
   
   The key elements of a Voice of Doctors Journal of Case Reports are:

1. The title accurately reflects the case.
   2. The case involves an important area of health.
   3. The report presents a clear and clinically useful message.
   4. The report is well written in terms of clarity, style and use of English.
   5. The report has a logical construction
2. The patient’s history, clinical examination plus findings, and investigations plus results are sufficiently detailed to explain the case but without including extraneous information (if it’s not relevant to the main message don’t include it).
   7. The relevant details of differential diagnosis, treatment plan, and follow-up are included.
3. There is a clear and definite outcome for the case, so readers are not left thinking “But what happened in the end?”.
   9. The discussion section explains the case in the context of published information.
   10. The conclusions accurately and clearly explain the main clinical message.
   11. The report is a reasonable length (1,000-3,000 words).
4. There are no omissions of important content.
   13. The references are appropriate and current.
   14. Correct use of international standard of units (SI units) throughout the report.
   15. A Highlight at the start of the case report, which should be no longer than 50 words. The aim of the Highlight is to succinctly summarise the one take-home message the authors would like readers to remember after reading their report. Brevity is crucial here; if you cannot summarise your Highlight in 50 words you may need to re-think the message you are trying to conve.
   16. Case reports may make reference to any relevant published systematic reviews, and those systematic reviews should be referenced appropriately. We do not accept systematic reviews for publication as part of case reports or separately, and we do not accept case reports which reference unpublished systematic reviews.
   17. Narrative reviews are acceptable as part of a case report.
   
   B. Case Images
   
   Clinical images are pictures that illustrate a key clinical finding that can be presented in the form of a question. Once again, the images do not have to be unusual, but do have to convey an important message.

 

The accompanying text should be no longer than 500 words in length and have no more than 3 references. The text should describe a clinical question relating to the image, along with a carefully validated answer. The aim of the questions and answer should be to educate or remind readers about an important clinical situation or event.

We recommend that you save photographic images in .tiff format and the resolution should be greater than 300 dpi.

1. Case Videos

 

Videos are a very good way to describe clinical procedures that are crucial in all aspects of healthcare. Our view again is that these procedures do not have to be novel or unusual, but do need to reflect best practice and must be accompanied by an illustrative video segment.

The accompanying text should be no longer than 100 words in length and have no more than 2 references. The text should describe a clinical question relating to the procedure in the video, along with a carefully validated answer. The aim of the question and answer should be to educate or remind readers about an important clinical situation or event. Video segments will be published as supporting information to the clinical question text. We recommend that video files are submitted in Quicktime, MPEG, MP4, AVI file formats as these are the most commonly used and accessible by readers. Please try to restrict individual file sizes to 10Mb maximum (zipped or unzipped). Larger files may be hosted, but these can lead to download issues for users.

D. Case Series

Voice of Doctors Journal of Case Reports will also consider case series that contain more than one case report. Each report in the series should contain the same key elements as the case reports mentioned above and must have the required sections. While all case series submissions are welcomed, each series will be considered on its own merits to determine if it is aligned with the Journal’s Aims and Scopes. Please note that written patient consent must be provided for each separate case. Please see the journal’s full policy on consent here. Voice of Doctors Journal of Case Reports will consider case series with a maximum of three cases; series that detail more than three cases will not be considered.

E. Corrigendum

If you would like to submit a Corrigendum, please contact the editorial office.

F. Editorial

If you would like to submit an Editorial, please contact the editorial office.

1. Letter to the Editor

Letters to the Editors must be written in response to a manuscript that has been published in Voice of Doctors Journal of Case Reports. Authors of Letter to the Editors should not also be the authors of the published Case Report they are writing about. It should contain no new or unreviewed data and should not exceed 3,000 words. 

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION AND FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatical English. Manuscripts not conforming to Journal format will be returned to authors for modification.

• Text should be 1.5-spaced.
• Body text size should be no smaller than 10 pt and no larger than 12 pt.
• Do not add line numbers as the system will generate those when the PDF is built.
• Authors should avoid repeating the same information in the Abstract, Introduction, and Discussion.

Footnotes, abbreviations, and abstract pages must be included in the main body file. Please do not upload separate copies of these documents. Please ensure the Title Page is uploaded separately to the main body file, to comply with our double-blind peer review process; the main body file should not include any identifiable author information.

Acceptable document file types for text and tables include .DOC and .DOCX; do not submit a PDF.

Title Page

The following elements are required for every submission:

• Title. Include a concise, descriptive and informative title. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. The title should not be a sentence. No proprietary or brand names for drugs or agents may be used in article titles.
• Authors. Author names should be listed in the following order: the full first name, middle initials, last name of each author, medical and/or highest academic degrees. The name(s) of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed.
  When a large group or centre has conducted the work, the author list should include the individuals whose contributions meet the authorship criteria defined above, as well as the group name. If the article has been submitted on behalf of a consortium, all author names and affiliations should be listed in the Acknowledgements section.
• Address for Correspondence. One author should be designated as the corresponding author. A current email and full mailing address for the corresponding author must be provided.
• Acknowledgements statement: The acknowledgements section should contain the following distinct statements in separate paragraphs:
  • Assistance with the study. Acknowledgements should be made only to those who have made a substantial contribution to the study. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from people acknowledged by name in case readers infer their endorsement of data and conclusions. If there was no assistance state: ‘Assistance with the study: none.’
  • Financial support and sponsorship. You must make reference to all relevant sources of funding concerning this article. If there were no sources of funding, please state: ‘Financial support and sponsorship: none.’
  • Conflicts of interest. You must make reference to all relevant conflicts of interest concerning this article including financial, consultant, institutional and other relationships that might lead to bias or a conflict of interest. If there are no conflicts of interest, please state: ‘Conflicts of interest: none.’
  • Presentation (for original articles only). Presentations of preliminary data at, for example, international meetings should be acknowledged separately. If preliminary data was not previously presented, please state: ‘Presentation: none’.

 

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should briefly describe the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions.

A structured abstract should be a maximum of 300 words. For all original research articles, the abstract should be structured using the following headings: Background; Materials and Methods; Results; Conclusion. They should briefly describe, respectively, the problem being addressed in the study, how the study was performed, the salient results, and what the authors conclude from the results.

Graphical abstract

Although a graphical abstract is optional, its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise, pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission system. Preferred file types: TIFF, JPEG, EPS or MS Office files.

Highlights

Highlights are concise bullet points that convey the core findings and provide readers with a quick textual overview of the article. These bullet points describe the essence of the research. Highlights are mandatory for all original research articles.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts. Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Main Body

Introduction. The introduction contains a statement of the purpose of the work, the problem that stimulated it, and a brief summary of relevant published investigations.

Methods. Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. Include appropriate ethical and statistical information. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and cite the source.

Case Presentation. A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already provided in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results. The results should be concise, avoiding redundant tables and figures illustrating the same data.

Discussion. This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusion. The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

References: The style of references should conform to the guidelines set forth by the AMA Manual of Style. For specific examples and information regarding references, see the manual or visit online: http://www.amamanualofstyle.com. Authors using other forms of reference management software should use JAMA style.

• All references cited in the text must be both listed and cited by the reference number (footnotes are not accepted).
• Each reference should be cited in the text, tables, or figures in consecutive numerical order by means of superscript Arabic numerals. Use superscript numerals outside periods and commas, inside colons and semicolons. When more than 2 references are cited at a given place in the manuscript, use hyphens to join the first and last numbers of a closed series; use commas without space to separate other parts of a multiple citation (e.g., As reported previously,1,3-8,19…The derived data were as follows3,4,12:)
• References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text.
• References in tables and in figure legends must appear in the reference page(s).
• In listed references, use the author’s surname followed by initials without periods. (e.g., Doe JF)
• For references with 6 or fewer authors, list all authors. For references with more than 6 authors, list the first 3 authors followed by “et al.”
  • 1 author Doe JF.
  • 2 authors Doe JF, Roe JP III.
  • 6 authors Doe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, Loe JT Sr, Poe EA, van Voe AE.
  • >6 authors Doe JF, Roe JP III, Coe RT Jr, et al.
• Full-page ranges should be given in expanded form (eg, 426-429, not 426-9).
• If non-English-language titles are translated into English, bracketed indication of the original language should follow the title.
• Abbreviate and italicize names of journals according to the style in PubMed; refer to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Journals Database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals) if needed.
• In references to journals that have no volume or issue numbers, use the issue date, as shown in example 1 below. If there is an issue number but no volume number, use the style shown in example 2. Conversely, if there is a volume number but no issue number, follow example 3.
  • 1. Author(s). Article Title. Journal Name. Month Year: inclusive pages.
  • 2. Author(s). Article Title. Journal Name. Year;(Issue No.): inclusive pages.
  • 3. Author(s). Article Title. Journal Name. Year; vol: inclusive pages.
• Papers “submitted for publication” but not yet accepted and citations such as “personal communication” or “unpublished data” are not acceptable as listed references and instead should be included parenthetically in the text. This material, with its date, should be noted in the text as “unpublished data” as follows: (J. F. Doe, MD, unpublished data, January 2010).
• Papers denoted “in press” (accepted for publication) should appear in the references.
• Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references

Tables: References to tables should be made in order of appearance in the text and should be in Arabic numerals in parentheses, e.g. (Table 1). Each table should be typed on a separate word processing document in 1.5 spacing and uploaded individually. Tables should not be submitted as photographs. Do not embed tables within the manuscript file. Tables are text-only. Do not embed images within the table file. Each table should have a brief title as a heading, appropriate column heads, and any legends. Vertical rules should not be used. Place explanatory matter in footnote, not in the heading. Abbreviations are not permitted in table titles. Any abbreviation(s) used in the body of the table, including dashes, must be defined in the footnotes, listed in reading order. Be sure that each table is cited in the text. If you use data from another published or unpublished source, obtain permission and acknowledge the source fully, using the name of the first author of the previous series, and include the reference number and year along-side the author’s name. Each series mentioned in a table must be listed in the Reference section.

Authors are encouraged to submit non-essential tables as supplemental digital content for publication online only. See Supplemental Digital Content section for more details.

For further information on table formatting, please see the AMA Manual of Style.

Figures and Legends: Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution available. Legends should be supplied for all figures. They are numbered to correspond with the figures and typed double-spaced on a separate page. Figure legends for any supplemental figures being submitted are to be provided separately; see section, Supplemental Digital Content (SDC).

• Do not embed figures into the main body file
• Each figure must be uploaded as a separate file. Each file should be saved as the appropriate figure number (e.g., Figure 1.tif). Label figures using the Description field provided in the Attach Files section of Editorial Manager (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2). This provides a label for each figure in the PDF generated by Editorial Manager. Do not include the author’s name in the figure file name.
• Cite figures consecutively in the manuscript and number them in the order in which they are discussed.
• All final digital figures for accepted manuscripts must be submitted in EPS, TIFF, or MS Office (DOC, PPT, XLS).
• Art should be created and scaled to the size intended for publication. Image orientation should be the same as intended for publication.
• Artwork generated from office suite programs such as CorelDRAW, MS Word, MS PowerPoint and artwork downloaded from the Internet (low resolution JPEG or GIF files) cannot be used.
• All figures must be designated GRAYSCALE (black and white) or RBG (colour).
• Diagrams, drawings, graphs, and other line art (purely black and white figures with no shades of grey) should be prepared at a resolution of 1200 DPI.
• Halftones images (black/white or colour) should be prepared at a resolution of at least 300 DPI.
• Combination halftones (images containing both pictures and text labelling) should be prepared at 600 DPI.
• Digital art files should be cropped to remove non-printing borders (such as unnecessary white or black space around an image) and should not include embedded “legend” text, figure titles, or figure numbers.
• Composite figures may be either submitted as one single print-quality image that is neatly labelled with uppercase letters using Arial/Helvetica bold font or submitted as separate panels (without labels), et, Figure 1A.tif, Figure 1B.tif, to be combined during production if accepted for publication.
• Legends for all figures should be brief and specific and should appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript document, following the list of references. Legends should indicate the figure number and must be numbered correctly.
• All symbols or abbreviations appearing in an illustration must be defined in the legend; arrows appearing in a figure should be mentioned in the legend.
• Legends of composite figures should be formatted as a single legend containing necessary information about each part/panel.
• Your manuscript may be returned to you for correction if the images are of insufficient quality.
• If photographs of people are used, their identities must be obscured or their written consent to use the photograph must have been obtained. If necessary, the Editors may request copies of any consent forms.
• If a figure has been published before, the original source must be acknowledged and written permission from the copyright holder for both print and electronic formats should be submitted with the material. Permission is required regardless of authorship or publisher, except for documents in the public domain.
• Figures may be reduced, cropped, or deleted at the discretion of the editor.
• Carefully review the PDF conversion of your submission files to ensure that the figures uploaded without error and appear as intended.

 

Artwork submitted to the Journal will be checked for quality. Authors submitting a revised paper will have the opportunity to check the quality of their images and make the necessary changes. This step is required for all revisions.

Supplemental Digital Content (SDC): Authors may submit Supplemental Digital Content to supplement the information provided in the manuscript. SDC may include the following types of content: text, tables, figures, references peripheral to information provided as SDC, audio, and video. SDC should be consecutively cited in the Main Body text of the submitted manuscript. SDC files will be available via URL(s) placed at the citation points within the article and are not copyedited by the publisher. They will be presented digitally as submitted. Note that Journal policies for manuscript submission relating to peer review, patient anonymity, ethics, financial disclosure, copyright, and permissions also apply to SDC. Authors should mask patients’ eyes and remove patients’ names from supplemental digital content unless they obtain written consent from the patients and submit them as supplemental files at the time of the manuscript submission.

Format, File Type and Size Requirements: SDC may be presented in any format (PDF is preferred) and should indicate the article title and first author for clarity. Supplemental content should include a sequential number if submitting more than one (1, 2, 3, etc.). Each SDC in the file should have a visual header in the following name format (e.g., “SDC, Figure 1”; “SDC, Materials and Methods”) and a corresponding citation must appear consecutively in the Main Body text. Note that SDC is numbered separately from non-SDC material. If providing SDC figure(s), a figure legend should be included on the figure itself. When uploading SDC select “Supplemental Digital Content” as the file designation. For audio and video files, also include the author’s name, videographer, participants, length (minutes), and size (MB). Video files should be formatted with a 320×240 pixel minimum screen size. Supplemental videos should be submitted using .wmv, .mov, .flv, .qt, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4 formats only. Videos should not exceed 10 minutes of runtime. Videos must include embedded audio narration in English. For each submission, the SDC file cannot exceed a total size of 10 MB.

ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION, FORMS, AND LICENSES

New Submissions

Once the manuscript has been created, visit the submission site at www.editorialmanager.com/ijs to upload the manuscript. Once the manuscript has been vetted for compliance to the Journal’s requirements, a manuscript number will be assigned to the submission. Failure to adhere to these guidelines will result in your manuscript being returned to you for correction. Emailed copies of manuscripts will not be accepted.

Mandatory License to Publish Forms

Upon submission, authors will be required to confirm their agreement with the terms and conditions in a License to Publish (LTP) form. LTP form agreement may be provided by the Corresponding Author on behalf of all authors. Authors retain copyright for all articles. Authors grant the journal a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. The LTP form is available for review during the submission process.