A case report is a detailed description of a single patient's clinical case, written up because it teaches something: a rare condition, an unexpected response to treatment, an unusual presentation of a common disease, or a diagnostic lesson worth sharing. For many clinicians and trainees, the case report is the first publication, and it remains a valuable form precisely because it captures the kind of granular, real-world detail that large trials average away.
This guide explains how to write a case report that journals will accept: the structure to follow, the CARE reporting guidelines, what makes a case publishable, and the consent and ethics requirements you cannot skip.
Before writing, be honest about whether the case adds something. Editors see far more case reports than they can publish, and the ones that succeed share a clear reason to exist:
- A rare disease or a rare presentation of a familiar one.
- An unexpected treatment response, good or bad, including novel adverse effects.
- A diagnostic challenge whose resolution carries a transferable lesson.
- A new association between conditions or between a drug and an outcome.
If you cannot state in one sentence what a reader will learn, the case is probably not ready for a report. This is also what separates a case report from an evidence synthesis; for the difference in purpose and method, see our comparison of a case report versus a systematic review.
The Standard Structure
Most case reports follow a structure close to IMRaD, adapted for a single case:
- Abstract. A short, structured summary, often 150 to 250 words, stating the case and its lesson. Many readers and all indexers see only this, so it must stand alone.
- Introduction. Two or three sentences of background establishing why the case matters and what is already known.
- Case presentation. The core of the report: patient history, presenting complaint, examination findings, investigations, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome, in chronological order. Include relevant negatives and avoid identifying details.
- Discussion. Where the case is interpreted against the published literature. What does it confirm, challenge, or add? What is the mechanism or the clinical takeaway?
- Conclusion. A brief, specific take-home message, not a generic call for more research.
A timeline figure showing the sequence of events is strongly recommended and is part of the CARE checklist.
The CARE (CAse REport) guidelines are the reporting standard most journals expect. They provide a checklist of the items a complete case report should contain, including a structured abstract, a timeline, the patient's perspective where appropriate, and a clear statement of informed consent. Following CARE from the first draft, rather than retrofitting it, makes the report more complete and smooths the path through editorial screening. Reporting checklists exist for most study types, and using the right one is a mark of methodological care that reviewers notice, much as PRISMA governs the reporting of a have our team run your systematic review.
Because the abstract is what indexers display and editors read first, it deserves disproportionate attention. Keep it self-contained: a sentence of context, the key clinical details, the intervention and outcome, and the lesson. Avoid abbreviations, citations, and vague conclusions. A precise, informative abstract is often the difference between a report that is read and one that is overlooked.
Consent and Ethics
This is non-negotiable. Publishing identifiable clinical details requires written informed consent from the patient or, where the patient cannot consent, their legal representative. Journals ask you to confirm consent at submission and may request a copy of the consent form. Where local rules require ethics committee approval or a waiver for case reports, obtain it. Anonymise the case as far as possible without losing clinical meaning: remove names, exact dates, and any detail that could identify the patient. Our guide to publication ethics covers the wider integrity requirements that apply.
Choosing the right outlet matters as much as the writing. Several dedicated case report journals exist, the largest being BMJ Case Reports and the Journal of Medical Case Reports, both of which publish across specialties and are widely indexed. Many specialty journals also run a case report section, and submitting to one read by your subfield gives the lesson a more relevant audience. Check three things before you submit: whether the journal accepts unsolicited case reports at all, whether it is indexed in PubMed or Scopus so the report is discoverable, and what the article processing charge is, since many case report venues are open access and bill the author. Avoid journals that solicit aggressively by email or promise implausibly fast acceptance, the warning signs covered in our guide to predatory journals.
A case report is among the faster routes to publication for a clinician, but it is not instant. Writing a first draft to the CARE checklist usually takes a few focused sessions once consent is secured and the records are assembled. The more variable stage is peer review, which can run from a few weeks to a few months depending on the journal. Plan for at least one round of revisions, since reviewers commonly ask for a sharper discussion or a fuller comparison with the published literature. Securing written informed consent early, rather than at submission, removes the single most common avoidable delay.
A well-chosen case, reported against CARE with a clear lesson and a clean abstract, has a real chance of acceptance even in a competitive field. The common failure modes are a case that teaches nothing new, a discussion that merely restates the case instead of interpreting it, and missing consent. For clinicians writing up a case alongside a full clinical workload, our managed medical writing support and our manuscript editing team teams help structure the report to CARE, sharpen the discussion, and prepare it for submission to a suitable journal.
Done well, a case report turns a single memorable patient into a durable contribution to the literature, and into a publication that launches or strengthens a clinical CV.
