By Richard O'Grady, Chief Publications Officer
Launching a new scientific journal requires teamwork, commitment, and unbending confidence among Society member leaders, staff, and partners in the publication’s mission. The Publications Department is delighted to report this approach has paid off resoundingly for the Society’s newest clinical journal, JCEM Case Reports (JCEMCR).
Under the leadership of its inaugural Editor-in-Chief, Society Past President William F. Young, Jr., MD, with a diverse and international team of editors, and the support of our publishing partners at Oxford University Press, the journal is off to a strong start. Maggie Haworth, our Director of Publishing Operations, serves as Staff Editor.
Since it opened for submissions in August 2022 and published its first issue in January 2023, this Open Access publication—free to read online worldwide—has received more than 200 submitted manuscripts from clinicians in 29 countries, led, numerically, by the United States, Japan, India, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Mexico, with all specialty areas of endocrinology included.
Of those 200 manuscripts, more than 75 have been accepted and published as articles so far or are currently in production, with at least another 60 in peer review. The journal also publishes the abstracts from the EndoBridge conference in Turkey.
At this pace, we expect JCEM Case Reports to publish more than 150 articles by the end of 2023, a robust figure by any journal metric. We plan to increase the journal to 12 issues a year starting in 2024.
These impressive figures confirm our pre-launch assessments of the demand among our members and beyond for a case reports journal in endocrinology from the Endocrine Society.
Case reports—typically, a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient—have long been a crucial tool for advancing the practice of medicine, going back hundreds of years. Initial discoveries of many disorders we know today were initially brought to light through case reports. Their importance to the practice of endocrinology is no different. In our field, JCEM Case Reports provides clinicians and endocrinology care teams, especially early career professionals, with the opportunity to read and publish with other health care professionals in a journal backed by the world’s leading endocrinology organization, gaining access to a valuable new diagnostic and learning resource.
The bottom line is JCEM Case Reports has quickly become a key new source of clinical information for busy clinicians worldwide. Dr. Young is chairing a session at ENDO 2023, Clinical Pearls from JCEM Case Reports, featuring recently published authors—and he will be on the lookout for other presentations at ENDO that can be worked up into manuscripts to submit to the journal (indeed, as all of the editors of our other journals do, too, at ENDO!).
Dr. Young provided an excellent overview of the new journal in a recent episode of Endocrine News Podcast and in an issue of our member magazine, Endocrine News. I’d like to share some of his points here.
Knowledge Sharing and Learning
Case reports can deepen our understanding of endocrine disorders, enhance our clinical skills, and suggest potential useful areas of future research, Dr. Young points out. “Original case reports can provide valuable insights and clinical nuances that you’re just not going to find in a large case series or clinical trial, or our clinical practice guidelines.”
JCEM Case Reports is the forum for clinicians to pass on these valuable clinical insights.
Backed by Team of Expert Editors and Reviewers
In addition to filling an unmet need, a defining strength of this journal is its dedicated 180-member editorial board, a Deputy Editor, and eight Associate Editors, who collectively hail from 34 different countries. All peer review is done by these experts, Dr. Young says.
The reviewers evaluate the methodologic quality of each case report, and work with authors to optimize their submissions with respect to case selection, ascertainment causality, and reporting.
Successful article submissions include clinical cases that are well described, have clear learning points, and are of special significance to early career endocrinologists and members of endocrine care teams. Each report contains common sections, including Case Presentation; Diagnostic Assessment; Treatment; Outcome and Follow-up; Discussion; and Learning Points.
Laboratory values are presented in International System of Units (SI) and conventional units. “So, no matter where you are in the world, the laboratory values will be very familiar,” Dr. Young says. “It should be clear to all readers and authors that JCEM Case Reports really is an international journal.”
“We’re particularly interested in exploring ways to effectively diagnose and treat endocrine conditions in regions where there may be limited clinical resources,” Dr. Young says.
Clinicians also are encouraged to submit case reports on common endocrine disorders with unique diagnostic, ethical, or management challenges.
In addition to articles, the journal welcomes submissions of endocrine images. Editors are looking for images that demonstrate what the clinician sees in the exam room or on their computer imaging system. These might include rare endocrine disorders or interesting educational images of a common endocrine disorder, Dr. Young explains. Selected images must be high resolution and include a legend that clearly describes the clinical context and physical exam findings.
Open Access Provides Global Dissemination and Access
Another advantage of the journal is that it is Open Access, meaning it is free to read online worldwide.
As an additional part of our aim to make this publication accessible, we have kept the author fees as low as possible. There is a flat article processing charge (APC) for accepted manuscripts, but no other charges to authors. The APC is reduced for Society members and is deeply discounted for early career and in-training members. Fee waivers are available for authors from developing countries.
Interested submitters can watch a short video on preparing a successful submission.
All of us here at the Society agree fully with Dr. Young’s goals for JCEM Case Reports. As he notes, we “aim to be at the top of the reading list for clinical endocrinologist and endocrine care providers and to become the preferred forum to share challenging cases and disseminate valuable clinical pearls to busy clinicians.”