Case Studies / Case Reports
A case study / case report is an unusual or interesting patient case which you would like to write up.
Always obtain written patient consent to write up a case study / case report.
The British Medical Journal Confidentiality Position Statement and Consent Form (link to BMJ website) is useful for reference. Please contact the journal in which you wish to publish for their equivalent.
A small case series is "a report on a series of cases with similarities." For example, you may have 2 unusual cases which are similar e.g. 2 patients who presented to the Emergency Department after an insect bite.
Always obtain written patient consent to write up a small case series.
Research Ethics Committee approval is not required to write up a single case study or case report, or a small case series, as described above, which involves less than five reports, with the proviso that written patient consent has been obtained and conclusions are not drawn. Please refer to table below to ensure the 'case series' is not a research study.
| Case Series | Research (requires REC approval) |
| Less than 5 case reports | 5 or more case reports |
| Not meant to be a representative sample (not drawing conclusions) | Drawing conclusions about a broader population based on the reported cases (even if not statistically significant e.g. pilot studies can be 'research') |
| Reported / Published without attempting to draw broader conclusions | Reported / Published in such a way that suggests broad findings or recommendations. |
| Write up of case only (report / publication may include photographs, images) | |
Table content adapted from
Emory University Institutional Review Board
link to Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia) website
Although it may be necessary to review charts to write up a small case series, a case series is not always necessarily a retrospective chart review study.
