What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Clinical Cases?

Abstract

The first issue of the World Journal of Clinical Cases (WJCC), whose preparatory work was initiated on October 26, 2012, will be published on April 16, 2013. The WJCC Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 520 distinguished experts from 55 countries. Our purpose of launching WJCC is to publish peer-reviewed, high-quality articles via an open-access online publishing model, thereby acting as a platform for communication between peers and the wider public, and maximizing the benefits to editorial board members, authors and readers.

Key Words: Clinical cases; Peer-reviewed; Open-access; Authors; Readers

Core tip: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the gold standard in current clinical treatments and essential for advancement of medicine. EBM attempts to objectively evaluate the quality of clinical research by critically assessing techniques reported by researchers in their publications. Therefore, high-quality clinical case studies published in clinical journals, which anyone can read, are extremely important. Information technology revolution brought us benefits that readers can easily access such journals from home, on mobile devices, or even while traveling. It will also accelerate further progress in EBM. World Journal of Clinical Cases should be a leading journal based on EBM.

INTRODUCTION

I am Shuhei Yoshida, MD, PhD, a Research Fellow in Gastroenterology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, United States, and an Assistant Professor in Gastroenterology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Yachiyo Medical Center, Japan (Figure 1). Together with Giuseppe Di Lorenzo, MD, PhD, Professor, from the Genitourinary Cancer Section and Rare-Cancer Center, University Federico II of Napoli, Italy; Jan Jacques Michiels, MD, PhD, Professor, from the Primary Care, Medical Diagnostic Center Rijnmond Rotterdam, Blood Coagulation, Internal and Vascular Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Center, The Netherlands; and Sandro Vento, MD, from the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Botswana, Botswana. We will be the co-Editor-in-Chief for World Journal of Clinical Cases (World J Clin Cases, WJCC, ISSN 2307-8960, DOI: 10.12998). I am very pleased to announce that the first issue of WJCC will be published on April 16, 2013. The WJCC Editorial Board has now been established and consists of 520 distinguished experts from 55 countries. The role of academic journals is to exhibit the scientific levels of a country, a university, a center, a department, and even a scientist, and build an important bridge for communication between scientists and the public. As we all know, the significance of the publication of scientific articles lies not only in disseminating and communicating innovative scientific achievements and academic views, as well as promoting the application of scientific achievements, but also in formally recognizing the “priority” and “copyright” of innovative achievements published, as well as evaluating research performance and academic levels. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the gold standard in current clinical treatments and essential for advancement of medicine. EBM attempts to objectively evaluate the quality of clinical research by critically assessing techniques reported by researchers in their publications. Therefore, high-quality clinical case studies published in clinical journals, which anyone can read, are extremely important. High-quality clinical case studies published in clinical journals benefit patients in the following ways: (1) Published clinical studies add novel treatment options to standard therapeutic strategies that may be on the cutting edge; and (2) Through clinical studies published in WJCC, patients can access to investigational agents, devices, imaging studies, technology, equipment, or novel diagnostic techniques at no additional cost.

Figure 1 Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Clinical Cases. Shuhei Yoshida, MD, PhD, a Research Fellow in Gastroenterology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Dana 509, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States. He is also an Assistant Professor in Gastroenterology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Yachiyo Medical Center, 477-96 Owada-Shinden, Yachiyo, Chiba 276-8542, Japan.

AIM AND SCOPE

WJCC is a peer-reviewed open access (OA) academic journal that aims to guide clinical practice and improve diagnostic and therapeutic skills of clinicians.

The primary task of WJCC is to rapidly publish high-quality Autobiography, Case Report, Clinical Case Conference (Clinicopathological Conference), Clinical Management, Diagnostic Advances, Editorial, Field of Vision, Frontier, Medical Ethics, Original Articles, Clinical Practice, Meta-Analysis, Minireviews, Review, Therapeutics Advances, and Topic Highlight, in the fields of allergy, anesthesiology, cardiac medicine, clinical genetics, clinical neurology, critical care, dentistry, dermatology, emergency medicine, endocrinology, family medicine, gastroenterology and hepatology, geriatrics and gerontology, hematology, immunology, infectious diseases, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pathology, pediatrics, peripheral vascular disease, psychiatry, radiology, rehabilitation, respiratory medicine, rheumatology, surgery, toxicology, transplantation, and urology and nephrology.

WJCC is dedicated to become an influential and prestigious journal in clinical cases, to promote the development of above disciplines, and to improve the diagnostic and therapeutic skill and expertise of clinicians.

WJCC is edited and published by Baishideng Publishing Group (BPG). BPG has a strong professional editorial team composed of science editors, language editors and electronic editors. BPG currently publishes 42 OA clinical medical journals, and is one of the leading medical publishers, with the first-class editing and publishing capacity and production.

CONTENTS OF PEER REVIEW

In order to guarantee the quality of articles published in the journal, WJCC usually invites three experts to comment on the submitted papers. The contents of peer review include: (1) whether the contents of the manuscript are of great importance and novelty; (2) whether the study is complete and described clearly; (3) whether the discussion and conclusion are justified; (4) whether the citations of references are necessary and reasonable; and (5) whether the presentation and use of tables and figures are correct and complete.

COLUMNS

The columns in the issues of WJCC will include: (1) Editorial: The editorial board members are invited to make comments on an important topic in their field in terms of its current research status and future directions to lead the development of this discipline; (2) Frontier: The editorial board members are invited to select a highly cited cutting-edge original paper of his/her own to summarize major findings, the problems that have been resolved and remain to be resolved, and future research directions to help readers understand his/her important academic point of view and future research directions in the field; (3) Diagnostic Advances: The editorial board members are invited to write high-quality diagnostic advances in their field to improve the diagnostic skills of readers. The topic covers general clinical diagnosis, differential diagnosis, pathological diagnosis, laboratory diagnosis, imaging diagnosis, endoscopic diagnosis, biotechnological diagnosis, functional diagnosis, and physical diagnosis; (4) Therapeutics Advances: The editorial board members are invited to write high-quality therapeutic advances in their field to help improve the therapeutic skills of readers. The topic covers medication therapy, psychotherapy, physical therapy, replacement therapy, interventional therapy, minimally invasive therapy, endoscopic therapy, transplantation therapy, and surgical therapy; (5) Field of Vision: The editorial board members are invited to write commentaries on classic articles, hot topic articles, or latest articles to keep readers at the forefront of research and increase their levels of clinical research. Classic articles refer to papers that are included in Web of Knowledge and have received a large number of citations (ranking in the top 1%) after being published for more than years, reflecting the quality and impact of papers. Hot topic articles refer to papers that are included in Web of Knowledge and have received a large number of citations after being published for no more than 2 years, reflecting cutting-edge trends in scientific research. Latest articles refer to the latest published high-quality papers that are included in PubMed, reflecting the latest research trends. These commentary articles should focus on the status quo of research, the most important research topics, the problems that have now been resolved and remain to be resolved, and future research directions. Basic information about the article to be commented (including authors, article title, journal name, year, volume, and inclusive page numbers; (6) Minireviews: The editorial board members are invited to write short reviews on recent advances and trends in research of molecular biology, genomics, and related cutting-edge technologies to provide readers with the latest knowledge and help improve their diagnostic and therapeutic skills; (7) Review: To make a systematic review to focus on the status quo of research, the most important research topics, the problems that have now been resolved and remain to be resolved, and future research directions; (8) Topic Highlight: The editorial board members are invited to write a series of articles (7-10 articles) to comment and discuss a hot topic to help improve the diagnostic and therapeutic skills of readers; (9) Medical Ethics: The editorial board members are invited to write articles about medical ethics to increase readers’ knowledge of medical ethics. The topic covers international ethics guidelines, animal studies, clinical trials, organ transplantation, etc.; (10) Clinical Case Conference or Clinicopathological Conference: The editorial board members are invited to contribute high-quality clinical case conference; (11) Original Articles: To report innovative and original findings in clinical research; (12) Clinical Practice: To briefly report the novel and innovative findings in clinical practice; (13) Meta-Analysis: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness in clinical medicine by using data from two or more randomized control trials; (14) Case Report: To report a rare or typical case; (15) Letters to the Editor: To discuss and make reply to the contributions published in WJCC, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest; (16) Book Reviews: To introduce and comment on quality monographs of clinical medicine; and (17) Autobiography: The editorial board members are invited to write their autobiography to provide readers with stories of success or failure in their scientific research career. The topic covers their basic personal information and information about when they started doing research work, where and how they did research work, what they have achieved, and their lessons from success or failure.

CONCLUSION

Together, investigators who want to share any new finding or investigations, clinical experience on the application or improvements of diagnostic and therapeutic skills of clinicians, the WJCC will be a good place for you! As the Editor-in-Chief for WJCC, I am looking forward to your contributions to this attractive journal!