The Case for the Case Report

Case reports at one time could be found in many if not most medical journals. I found that 40 years ago, the top 10 pediatric journals all published case reports (many with designated case report sections), and 30% of the articles published in the 10 journals collectively were case reports. Twenty years ago, these same journals had reduced their case report publications, averaging only 15% of their published articles, with many having dropped a case report section altogether. In 2016, case reports only accounted for 4% of articles published in this same group of journals, with Pediatrics at 11% being the most committed to this format of medical publication. Pediatrics also is the only one of these publications with a designated section for case reports. Pediatrics’ recent decision to reduce the number of published case reports from a maximum of 8 an issue to 3 an issue is the...