Advocating Submission of Case Reports in Family Medicine: An Analysis of Case Report Submissions in Journals Related to Family Medicine

INTRODUCTION: Family medicine embraces a wide range of principles. Identifying appropriate journals for publishing family medicine case reports can be challenging for authors. This study aims to identify journals related to family medicine that publish case reports and summarize the requirements of case report submissions.

METHODS: Journals related to family medicine were identified from the subject categories: "family practice" in Scopus and "primary health care" in Web of Science. The author's instructions on the journal websites regarding the criteria for case report submissions were reviewed, and the specific requirements for case reports of each journal were recorded. Journals were excluded if family medicine was not the main aim and scope.

RESULTS: Among the 80 journals focused on family medicine, 30 (37.5%) were found to accept submissions of case reports. These reports were classified into various article types, such as case reports, patient studies, clinical case studies. The length of the main text varied between 400 and 3000 words, and some journals did not mandate an abstract. However, for those that did, abstracts typically ranged from 50 to 300 words. The number of references cited ranged from 5 to 30.

CONCLUSIONS: Less than half of the journals in the family medicine field accept case report submissions. It is advisable for authors to choose their target journal early in the preparation process, as each journal typically provides specific submission guidelines and instructions.