For a scientific journal aiming for a top ranking in the Journal
Citation Reports or similar databases case reports are often less than
welcome. Even if they have a ‘‘high impact’’ – meaning that
clinicians read them and adjust their actual case management
according to what they learned – they will not necessarily get cited.
This is because they are by their very nature, based on the
experience in treating a single patient or a limited number of
patients. Consequently, case reports have been counted among the
items that negatively afflict a journals impact factor as they receive
‘‘only negligible citations’’ [5,4]. This was not without consequences
and journals have often tried to get rid of the ‘‘case report burden’’ or
at least have not provided encouraging noises. As an example for
this Mycoses, one of the major journals in medical mycology, states
that ‘‘Case Reports may be submitted but only those which are RARE
or of EXCEPTIONAL INTEREST will be considered’’ in its instructions
to authors (Mycoses, Instructions for Authors). Other journals
completely removed case reports from their portfolio [6].