SteadFAST

A Case Report should recount an interesting or unusual experience with a patient, discuss the intervention and the reasons it was chosen, and provide the outcome. The manuscript must be written in two main sections: CASE and DISCUSSION. Do not include an introduction before the CASE portion. There may be a final CONCLUSION in which the outcome for the patient is given, but otherwise the patient experience should be confined to the CASE portion of the manuscript. In the DISCUSSION section, review the pertinent literature briefly. Each manuscript should include 3 to 5 key points, which are crucial to the value of a case report as well as 3-5 keywords to assist in indexing and discoverability. Photographs, radiographs, or other types of clinical images should be submitted if appropriate and must have reuse permissions granted for inclusion. Authors should take care to remove any information from the case description that could identify the patient. If this is not possible, authors should obtain the patient’s permission to publish the details of the case and include this permission with their submission.

For more information, see “How to Write a Case Report.”

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper must be transparent in disclosing in the Case Report how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

Reference lists should not be overly long. Keep in mind that content should review the literature selectively and should emphasize what is practical, current, and evidence-based. When compiling references for your article, keep the following guidelines in mind:

Cite recent sources. If you are citing a paper that was published more than 5 years ago, the paper should be either one of a kind (a seminal study) or the only source for the data you are citing. If neither of these is the case, you probably either do not need to cite a source at all, or you need to find a more recent one.

Epidemiologic data should be absolutely current. Please look for the most recent information available.

Cite primary sources whenever possible since these carry the most weight. The primary source is the place where the information was first published. For example, the study where the data on the effectiveness of a certain treatment were first reported is the primary source; a review article that cites this study is a secondary source and is less desirable. Check the paper you are citing carefully to make sure that the authors have not in fact taken their information from another source. If they have, that other source is probably primary.

Cite peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed primary source information appears in such journals, giving them more credibility than textbooks and medical websites that provide generic reviews.

All direct quotes, including those from government sources, online publications, and publications that are in the public domain—must be presented as such, with quotation marks and appropriate citations. Treating direct quotes otherwise will be considered plagiarism. 

Reference all statements that cite data or studies. If your sentence has numbers, the source of the numbers must be referenced.

References. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation. Number references sequentially in the text using superscript Arabic numbers. If a reference is cited more than once, it should always have the number assigned to it at its first occurrence.  For editing purposes, manuscripts with references must be formatted using the form prescribed in the AMA Manual of Style or the Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Use the abbreviations for journal titles provided on PubMed. 

Any online website citations must include the URL and latest date the author accessed the page to verify its currency.  All citations for electronic published content MUST contain the digital object identifier (DOI).

Legends must accompany all tables and figures. Authors should indicate whether illustrations are original works or copies. All tables, figures, etc. must have appropriate alternative text. Authors must obtain copyright releases for reprinting any previously published material. Copyright permission may also be necessary for any adaptations of previously published material, including tables which have been adapted from other sources. For more information on copyright visit www.copyright.gov/help/faq.

If you used AI tools in the creation of a figure or illustration, disclose that fact and describe which AI tool was used and how it was used.

Photographs must be accompanied by written permission of any individuals pictured in the photo, unless the image is historic or considered a public photo. Photograph releases from individuals in the photo should include permission to use the photo in all media forms. Do not embed photos or figures in word processing documents; they must be attached as separate files (JPGS or TIFFs) to your submission.