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Decline of case reports in pathology and their renewal in the digital age: an analysis of publication trends over four decades
  1. Luca Cima1,
  2. Francesca Pagliuca2,
  3. Evelin Torresani1,
  4. Antonio Polonia3,
  5. Catarina Eloy3,
  6. Venkatesh Dhanasekeran4,
  7. Rifat Mannan5,
  8. Silvia Gamba Torrez6,
  9. Nicola Mirabassi1,
  10. Angelo Cassisa7,
  11. Andrea Palicelli8,
  12. Mattia Barbareschi1,9
  1. 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Unit of Surgical Pathology, Ospedale Santa Chiara di Trento, APSS, Trento, Italy
  2. 2Department of Mental and Physical Health and Preventive Medicine, Pathology Unit, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy
  3. 3Department of Pathology, Ipatimup - Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  4. 4Department of Histopathology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, India
  5. 5Department of Pathology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, California, USA
  6. 6Department of Pathology, Cruces University Hospital, Barakaldo, Spain
  7. 7Department of Oncology, Section of Pathology, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, USL Centro Toscana, Florence, Italy
  8. 8Unit of Pathology, Azienda USL-IRCSS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy
  9. 9CISMED, Centro Interdipartimentale di Science Mediche, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr Luca Cima, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Unit of Surgical Pathology, Ospedale Santa Chiara di Trento, APSS, Trento, 38122, Italy; lucacima85{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Aims We investigated the trend in case reports (CRs) publication in a sample of pathology journals. Furthermore, we proposed an alternative publishing route through new digital communication platforms, represented by the ‘social media case report’.

Methods 28 pathology journals were selected from SCImago database and searched in PubMed to identify the number of published CRs. Four reference decades (1981–2020) were selected. The 5-year impact factor (IF) was retrieved from the Academic Accelerator database.

Results CRs increased during the first three decades (6752, 8698 and 11148, respectively; mean values: 355, 27.3%; 334, 26.4%; 398, 28.8%) as the number of CR-publishing journals (19, 26 and 28, respectively). In the last decade, CRs significantly decreased (9341; mean 334, 23.6%) without variation in the number of CR-publishing journals (28). Half of the journals reduced CRs (from −1.1% to −37.9%; mean decreasing percentage −14.7%), especially if active since the first decade (11/14, 79%); the other half increased CRs (from +0.5% to +34.2%; mean increasing percentage +11.8%), with 8/14 (57%) starting publishing in the first decade. The 5-year IF ranged from 0.504 to 5.722. Most of the journals with IF ≥2 (10/14, 71%) reduced the CRs number, while 71% of journals with IF <2 increased CRs publication (especially journals with IF <1, +15.1%).

Conclusions CRs publication decreased during the last decade, especially for journals which are older or have higher IF. Social media CRs may represent a valid alternative and by using standardised templates to enter all relevant data may be organised in digital databases and/or transformed in traditional CRs.

  • EDUCATION
  • Education, Medical
  • Pathology, Surgical

https://doi.org/10.1136/jcp-2022-208626

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Vikram Deshpande.

    • Twitter @atman_ci, @Silvia95056273, @http://twitter.com/AngeloCassisa

    • Contributors LC, FP, ET, AP, CE, VD, RM, SGT, NM, AC, AP and MB: study design; data collection; data interpretation; manuscript preparation; literature search; review and approval of the final manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.