Is publishing a case report worth the hassle

[theResilient]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Greetings, I'm a 3rd year contemplating whether I should go ahead and pay the requested fee ($1k) to have a case report I, alone, wrote in the American journal of case reports (it is a reputable journal and my report passed their review process already). Although I know case reports aren't viewed as seriously as IRB approved studies, I am the sole author and would like to get a sense of the impact this report would have on my residency application. To give a sense of my background, I have passed IM, surgery, and psychiatry with honors and I did an IRB approved study in public health school of which I'm also the sole author. I'm contemplating specializing in general surgery or IM, preferably research oriented but open to clinical oriented IM as well.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I don't think so. And if you decline, they will likely lower their requested fee - only you can decide how much you're willing to spend on this. But I wouldn't spend anything.

 

[mistafab]

It's better than nothing. If you have a paucity of published work then it can be helpful (i.e. zero). If you already have a few pubs here and there then a case report is somewhat meaningless.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Case reports, in general, are worse than toilet paper.

 

[AJS59]

Greetings, I'm a 3rd year contemplating whether I should go ahead and pay the requested fee ($1k) to have a case report I, alone, wrote in the American journal of case reports (it is a reputable journal and my report passed their review process already). Although I know case reports aren't viewed as seriously as IRB approved studies, I am the sole author and would like to get a sense of the impact this report would have on my residency application. To give a sense of my background, I have passed IM, surgery, and psychiatry with honors and I did an IRB approved study in public health school of which I'm also the sole author. I'm contemplating specializing in general surgery or IM, preferably research oriented but open to clinical oriented IM as well.

1K is way too much to throw at a case report. I would encourage you to investigate whether your school has licensing agreements with any journals (i.e. my school has a licensing agreement with BMJ case reports so I submitted there since that covers the APC).

I don't think that case reports are actively negative, but if you have time and ability, being able to generate a small retrospective cohort study would be a better use of your time. But pubs are pubs, and if you have 1 in hand, try to get it out there at low cost.

 

[JBM16BYU]

The worth of publishing a case report honestly depends on the case report itself. I would not pay to publish a case report as you can often publish for free as a letter to the editor at many journals which will still be indexed on PubMed.

What is more suspect to me is publishing a case report of which you are the sole author. As a medical student, you are in rotations and have a preceptor attending you are with and are seeing this patient with. I would highly advise conferring with this attending about if and where you should publish this case report. As an attending, if I were reviewing residency applications and saw a medical student as the sole author on a case report, it would make me pause personally.

Also, you often (not always) need signed informed consent from a patient to publish. I would check the respective journals guidelines to authors.

 

[theResilient]

The worth of publishing a case report honestly depends on the case report itself. I would not pay to publish a case report as you can often publish for free as a letter to the editor at many journals which will still be indexed on PubMed.

What is more suspect to me is publishing a case report of which you are the sole author. As a medical student, you are in rotations and have a preceptor attending you are with and are seeing this patient with. I would highly advise conferring with this attending about if and where you should publish this case report. As an attending, if I were reviewing residency applications and saw a medical student as the sole author on a case report, it would make me pause personally.

Also, you often (not always) need signed informed consent from a patient to publish. I would check the respective journals guidelines to authors.

Apologies, My preceptor is listed as the 2nd author. Why would that make you pause?

 

[JBM16BYU]

Sole author and first author with a preceptor second are different. Sole author, as a medical student, is typically viewed as strange because it is not your clinic or your service line. The patient is under the supervisory care of an attending physician and so a case report should include them. In addition, a publishable case report typically includes a new, odd, or atypical presentation to expand on the available literature. Respectfully, as a medical student, you are still learning and cannot be an expert reporting a new case. Others may disagree with this opinion but I would venture many attendings may feel similar.

 

[theResilient]

Sole author and first author with a preceptor second are different. Sole author, as a medical student, is typically viewed as strange because it is not your clinic or your service line. The patient is under the supervisory care of an attending physician and so a case report should include them. In addition, a publishable case report typically includes a new, odd, or atypical presentation to expand on the available literature. Respectfully, as a medical student, you are still learning and cannot be an expert reporting a new case. Others may disagree with this opinion but I would venture many attendings may feel similar.

Alright, I will take your advice and try to get it published as a letter to the editor at another journal, unless they make a significant cut in the fee

 

[Redpancreas]

Greetings, I'm a 3rd year contemplating whether I should go ahead and pay the requested fee ($1k) to have a case report I, alone, wrote in the American journal of case reports (it is a reputable journal and my report passed their review process already). Although I know case reports aren't viewed as seriously as IRB approved studies, I am the sole author and would like to get a sense of the impact this report would have on my residency application. To give a sense of my background, I have passed IM, surgery, and psychiatry with honors and I did an IRB approved study in public health school of which I'm also the sole author. I'm contemplating specializing in general surgery or IM, preferably research oriented but open to clinical oriented IM as well.

Agree with others who say if you have nothing, this may be a good start and worth the fee. Then, when you publish more you can be more selective.

I also agree that single author as a medical student is a bit weird. I would advise you to show this case to an attending, get feedback, and resubmit.