Medical Case Studies

  • Abbreviation: Med. Case Stud.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-6532
  • DOI: 10.5897/MCS
  • Start Year: 2010
  • Published Articles: 43

MCS - Instructions for Authors

Medical Case Studies (MCS) is a peer reviewed open access journal. The journal is published per article and covers all areas of the subject such as epidemiological methods, study of salivary gland cystadenocarcinoma of the tongue, Chronic viral hepatitis and their relation to ABO blood groups and rhesus (Rh) factor, treatment studies etc.
 
Case studies
 
Manuscripts should be submitted online via the Academic Journals Manuscript Management System
 
 
 
Responsible reporting of research studies, which includes a complete, transparent, accurate and timely account of what was done and what was found during a research study, is an integral part of good research and publication practice and not an optional extra.
 
MCS supports initiatives aimed at improving the reporting of health research. Authors should follow these guidelines when drafting their manuscripts.
 
 
Randomised controlled trials
Observational studies in epidemiology
 
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Studies of diagnostic accuracy
Qualitative research
 
 
Synthesis of qualitative research
 
 
Quality improvement in health care
 
Economic evaluations of health interventions
 
Case reports
 
Basic statistical reporting
 
 
Authors should endeavour to address all items recommended by the guidelines (as a minimum). Adherence to recommended reporting guidelines will increase the probability of manuscripts acceptance for publication.
The EQUATOR website provides a central repository of up-to-date reporting guidelines and other resources that assist authors to prepare a good research manuscript.
The journal requires authors to adhere to the ethical standards required of researchers and scientific writing. Specifically, the journal requires all authors to adhere to the ethical standards as prescribed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM).
 
Authorship
Inclusions of a person who do not meet authorship requirement as specified by the editorial policy or the exclusion of a person who meets the requirement is a violation of ethical requirements of the journal.
 
Plagiarism
The journal considers plagiarism a serious offense. Submitted manuscripts should be the original works of the author(s). The journal will follow COPE guideline in suspected cases of plagiarism.
 
The Merriam Webster Online dictionary defines plagiarizing as:
to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
to use (another's production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
 
The journal is committed to eliminating manuscripts with possible cases of plagiarism from its review and publication process. The journal uses the iThenticate plagiarism detection application to check each manuscript for possible cases of plagiarism. Plagiarism check is the first step in the manuscript review process. Manuscripts that are found to contain unacceptable level of similarity with other published works are immediately rejected. See Peer Review Policy.
 
Duplicate manuscripts
It is unethical for authors to submit a manuscript to the Medical Case Studies and at the same time, submit the same manuscript to another journal either within Academic Journals or any other publisher. This includes the submission of manuscripts derived from the same data in such a manner that there are no substantial differences in the manuscripts. Duplicate submission also includes the submission of the same/similar manuscript in different languages to different journals.
 
Fabrication and falsification of data
Fabrication, manipulation or falsification of data is a violation of this publication ethics. The journal shall employ the COPE guidelines in suspected cases of fabrication and falsification of data.
 
Citations manipulation
Authors should use only citations that are relevant to their manuscripts.  Addition of references which are not relevant to the work is strongly discouraged. Similarly, irrelevant self-citation to increase one’s citation is unethical.
 
The Medical Case Studies employs a rigorous peer review system. All submitted manuscripts undergo a double-blind peer review process before publication. See Peer Review Policy
 
Before submission, ensure that the manuscript falls within the scope of the journal. See Aims & Scope above.
All submissions must be written in good English. Poorly written submissions will be rejected at the point of submission.
Manuscripts should be prepared in single-line spacing of not more than 25 pages.
Headings, subheadings, sections and subsections should not be numbered. Major headings should be indicated in bold and block text (e.g INTRODUCTION). Subheadings should be indicated in normal text and title case.
The use of footnotes is not accepted.
The International System of Units (ISI) and other accepted conventions and nomenclature should be followed.
 
Title
The title phrase should be brief.
List authors’ full names (first-name, middle-name, and last-name).  Academic titles such as Prof., Dr., Assoc. Prof. etc should not be included. Clearly state the affiliations of all authors (Department, Faculty, institution and Country). Provide e-mails and phone numbers for each author.
 
Abstract
The abstract should be less than 300 words. The keywords should be less than 10.
 
Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations should be used all through the manuscript. The use of non-standard abbreviations should be kept to a minimum and must be well-defined in the text following their first use. An abbreviations section should be provided in the case of extensive use.
 
The Introduction
The statement of the problem in addition to the background of the study should be clearly and concisely stated.
 
Materials and methods
Materials and methods should be clearly presented to allow the reproduction of the experiments.
 
Results and discussion
Results and discussion maybe combined into a single section or presented separately, where necessary. 
 
Tables and figures
Table use should be kept to a minimum.
Tables must have a short descriptive title positioned at the top-left corner of the table. 
Tables should be presented in modified text organized in Microsoft Word or Excel spreadsheet and not as pictures.
The unit of measurement used in a table should be stated.
Tables should be numbered consecutively.
Figures/Graphics should be prepared in GIF, TIFF, JPEG or PowerPoint.
Figures/Graphics must have a short descriptive caption placed immediately at the bottom-left of the figure.
Tables and Figures should be appropriately cited in the manuscript.
 
Disclosure of conflict of interest
Authors should disclose all financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the study.
 
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgement of people, funds etc should be brief.
 
References
References should be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the paper. DOIs links to referenced articles should be stated wherever available. Names of journals should be presented in full and not abbreviated.
 
Examples:
 
Ehwarieme TA, Ogbogu CJ, Mbadugha C, Obiekwu AL (2018). Compliance to treatment regimen among diabetic patients attending outpatient department of selected hospitals in Benin City, Edo State. Journal of Public Health and Epidemiology: 10(4):97-107. https://doi.org/10.5897/JPHE2018.1002
 
Goren A, Laufer J, Yativ N, Kuint J, Ben AM, Rubinshtein M, Paret G, Augarten A (2001). Transillumination of the palm for venipuncture in infants. Pediatric Emergency Care 17:130-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00006565-200104000-00013      PMid:11334094
 
Rachel G, Naomi W, Kennedy M (2017). The heterogeneity and distribution patterns of ABO and RH D phenotypes in the voluntary blood donors of Kenya. Journal of Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology Research 8(1):1-7. https://doi.org/10.5897/JCIIR2017.0082
 
Mishra A, Mishra SC (2001). Cost-effective diagnostic nasal endoscopy with modified otoscope. Journal of Laryngology and Otology 115:648-649.
 
Authors are issued an Acceptance Certificate for manuscripts that have been reviewed and accepted for publication by an editor.
 
After a manuscript is accepted by an editor, the abstract of the manuscript will be placed in the journal’s Articles in Press page pending when the article is fully published. Published manuscript will be removed from Articles in Press after publication. 
 
Once a manuscript has been accepted, the corresponding author will be invoiced to make the necessary payment of the manuscript handling fee. Kindly note that on the manuscript management system, the payment option is only enabled for manuscripts that have been accepted for publication. Therefore, payment cannot be made except the manuscript is accepted for publication.
 
Prior to publication, a proof is sent to the corresponding author. Authors are advised to read the proof and correct minor typographical or grammatical errors. Authors should promptly return proofs to the editorial office.
 
Once proofs are received at the editorial office, the manuscripts are usually included in the next issue of the journal. The article will thereafter be published on the journal’s website
 
After the article is made available on the journal’s website, a publication notice is sent to the corresponding author with links to the issue and article.
 
Editorial Office: [email protected]
Helpdesk: [email protected]
Accounts Unit: [email protected]