Clinical case reports offer medical students an opportunity to transform meaningful patient encounters into scholarly activity while contributing valuable clinical observations and teaching points to the medical literature. This page provides WCUCOM students with guidance and resources for developing a clinical case for presentation and publication.

Resources include step-by-step guidance for preparing and publishing a case report, tools for case development and journal selection, supplemental literature on effective case reporting, and examples of case reports published by WCUCOM students. Together, these resources support students from identifying a noteworthy clinical case through manuscript preparation and submission.

1) Identify a Strong Case

Be attentive to clinical encounters that offer an important, interesting, or unexpected lesson for practicing clinicians. Because experiences that seem unusual to a medical student may be relatively common in clinical practice, discuss potential cases with your clinical preceptor early. Your preceptor can help determine whether the case has sufficient educational value to pursue as a presentation or publication.

Consider presenting the case as a poster at a local, state, or regional meeting before pursuing publication. This can provide valuable feedback and help strengthen the case presentation.

Above all, remember that a case report is a teaching tool. A strong case should have a clear message or clinical lesson that other physicians can apply to patient care.

2) Gather Your Materials

Once a case has been identified as having publication potential, begin collecting the information needed to accurately describe it. This may include relevant clinical history, laboratory findings, diagnostic studies, treatment information, outcomes, and high-quality clinical or diagnostic images.

Document important details while they are fresh in your memory and work with your preceptor to ensure that appropriate patient consent and privacy requirements are addressed. When possible, obtain any required written patient consent while the patient is still under the care of the clinical team.

3) Address Patient Privacy & Consent

Patient privacy and consent should be addressed early in the development of any case that may be presented or published. Although an individual case report may not typically constitute human subjects research requiring IRB review, students must still protect patient privacy and follow applicable institutional, clinical site, conference, and journal requirements.

Before any public presentation or publication, patient information must be appropriately de-identified in accordance with HIPAA requirements and applicable institutional policies. Many journals also require written patient consent for publication, even when the case has been de-identified. Because requirements vary, students should carefully review the target journal's Instructions for Authors and consent policies.

For example, the Journal of Medical Case Reports (JMCR) requires consent for publication for case reports and emphasizes that obtaining consent does not eliminate the responsibility to protect the patient's anonymity. Students can review the Journal of Medical Case Reports' Policy on Consent for Publication for an example of how a journal approaches patient consent and privacy requirements.

Students are strongly encouraged to discuss consent requirements with their clinical preceptor and obtain appropriate written patient consent as early as possible, ideally while the patient is still accessible to the clinical team. The clinical site's approved consent form should always be used when one is available. If the clinical site does not have its own consent form, a basic Case Report Patient Consent Form is available as a resource for students and preceptors. Before using this form, students should confirm with their preceptor and clinical site that it is appropriate for use.

Never include identifiable or protected patient information in manuscripts, presentations, shared documents, or AI-assisted tools unless specifically permitted through appropriate institutional processes.

4) Review the Literature

Conduct a focused literature review to determine what has already been published about similar cases and to establish how your case contributes to the existing literature. PubMed is an excellent starting point, and searches can be refined using relevant keywords, MeSH terms, and the Case Reports publication type.

Identify and carefully review the most relevant prior case reports and other literature. These publications can help establish the significance of your case, strengthen your discussion, and identify journals that commonly publish similar work.

5) Use References & Supporting Literature Appropriately

A strong case report should be grounded in the relevant peer-reviewed medical literature. Whenever possible, students should cite original research and other authoritative scholarly sources rather than relying on general websites or point-of-care clinical reference tools as primary references.

The goal is not to provide an exhaustive literature review, but rather to cite the most relevant evidence needed to establish the clinical context, explain what is already known, and demonstrate the educational or scholarly contribution of the case.

The number of references needed will depend on the case and the requirements of the target conference or journal. Journal requirements for case reports may also include specific word, reference, figure, and table limits, so students should always review the current Instructions for Authors before finalizing the manuscript.

6) Establish Authorship 

Discuss the project with your preceptor and others who contributed meaningfully to the case. Your clinical preceptor should be involved as a coauthor, and the team should discuss authorship, author order, and individual responsibilities early in the writing process.

Authorship should reflect meaningful intellectual contributions to the scholarly work. WCUCOM students and their collaborators should follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship.

Under the ICMJE recommendations, authorship is based on meeting all four criteria:

• • • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

    • Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND

    • Final approval of the version to be published; AND

    • Agreement 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.

For case reports arising from clinical rotations, the student's clinical preceptor will commonly be involved as a coauthor when they meet these criteria. Other students, residents, physicians, or clinical professionals may also qualify for authorship when their contributions meet the established criteria.

Authorship, author order, and individual responsibilities should be discussed and agreed upon early in the writing process. Individuals should not be added as authors solely because of their position, reputation, or professional relationship with the authors. Likewise, individuals who meet authorship criteria should receive appropriate recognition for their contributions.

Students are encouraged to review the ICMJE Recommendations for Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors for additional guidance.

7) WCUCOM Pre-Review Process & Journal Submission

In order to receive funding support for case report page charges, students must complete the WCUCOM pre-review process before submission to a journal.

Once the manuscript is complete, students should submit the completed manuscript draft to Dr. Fastring, Associate Dean of Research, as a docx attachment (not a linked file). Dr. Fastring will coordinate review of the manuscript by an experienced clinician reviewer. This review is intended to strengthen the manuscript, provide recommendations for final revisions, and help determine the most appropriate journal for submission.

The review process can take 2-4 weeks. Allow for this in your submission timeline. Once you edit the case report to the clinician reviewer's satisfaction, they will let you know that the pre-submission stage is complete. 

8) Select a Journal

With the clinician reviewer's help, you will identify two or three journals that are appropriate for the clinical topic and rank them in order of preference. Consider each journal's scope and audience, whether it accepts case reports, author guidelines, manuscript requirements, and any potential publication or processing fees.

Carefully review the journal's current Instructions for Authors. Requirements for case reports—including structure, word count, references, figures, patient consent documentation, and formatting—can vary considerably among journals.

Send a list of proposed journals (3 max), along with the APC (publication fees), and the impact factor of the journal to Dr. Fastring. These should be approved by the clinician reviewer prior to sending. 

You should also consider the WCUCOM Cureus Academic Channel. Students can publish in the journal for free, but they must go through the process as outlined. 

After you submit the proposed journals to Dr. Fastring, the ORSP team will meet to discuss the proposal. Once approved, you can submit to the proposed journal. If you submit without prior approval, you will be responsible for all fees associated with publication.   

9) Write & Refine the Case Report

After you receive approval for submitting to a journal, prepare the manuscript according to that journal's requirements. Although requirements vary by journal, case reports typically include a description of the case, relevant clinical findings and management, a discussion placing the case within the existing literature, and a conclusion emphasizing its clinical significance. Carefully review the journal's submission requirements before submitting the manuscript. Journal requirements vary considerably, and failure to follow author instructions may result in a manuscript being returned or rejected before peer review.

10) Respond to Peer Review

If the journal requests revisions, work with your coauthors to address each reviewer comment thoughtfully and professionally. When a suggested change cannot or should not be made, provide the editor with a clear and respectful explanation.

Rejection is a normal part of the publication process and does not necessarily mean the project should end. If a manuscript is not accepted, consult with Dr. Fastring and your coauthors about revisions and selection of another appropriate journal for submission. Students are also encouraged to share reviewer feedback with Dr. Fastring so that the WCUCOM pre-review process can continue to be strengthened.

The following resources may be helpful as you develop your case report, review reporting standards, identify an appropriate journal, and prepare your manuscript for submission.

Case Report Guidelines & Reporting Standards

• • • CARE Case Report Guidelines – The primary reporting guidelines for clinical case reports. Students should review the CARE guidelines when planning and writing a case report.

    • CARE Case Report Checklist – A practical checklist for ensuring that the essential elements of a clinical case report have been addressed before submission.

    • SCARE Guidelines – An adaptation of the CARE guidelines specifically developed for reporting surgical case reports.

    • ICMJE Authorship Guidelines – Guidance for determining who qualifies for authorship and understanding the responsibilities associated with authorship.

Finding an Appropriate Journal

Selecting the right journal is an important part of the publication process. Consider the journal's scope, intended audience, case report requirements, indexing, publication model, and any associated publication fees before submitting.

• • • CARE Case Report Journal Listing – A listing of journals that publish clinical case reports.

    • How to Choose the Best Journal for Your Case Report – Editorial pieces that provides guidance for evaluating potential journals and selecting an appropriate publication venue.

    • JANE: Journal/Author Name Estimator – Enter a manuscript title or abstract to identify journals that have published similar research. JANE can also be used to locate related articles and authors.

    • Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association – A potential venue for clinically relevant work with particular relevance to physicians and health care in Mississippi.

    • Journal of Medical Case Reports – A peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of clinical case reports.

WCUCOM students have successfully developed clinical cases encountered during their medical education into published case reports. These publications represent a variety of clinical disciplines and demonstrate how an interesting patient encounter, thoughtful clinical question, and collaboration with a faculty or clinical mentor can develop into meaningful scholarly work.

Students interested in exploring previously published work can use the PubMed search below to view WCUCOM-affiliated case reports indexed in the biomedical literature. Selected case reports are also highlighted by year to showcase examples of student and faculty scholarship.

We encourage students to browse these publications for inspiration and to see how their peers have transformed clinical experiences into scholarly contributions. Your next interesting clinical encounter could be the beginning of a case report of your own.