Patient Privacy
Chronicles of Medical and Clinical Case Reports publishes clinical observations that must never expose a patient who has not agreed to be identified. Authors are responsible for removing identifying detail from the manuscript, images, tables and supplementary files before submission.
What must be removed
- Names, initials that could identify the person, and names of relatives.
- Hospital or laboratory numbers, national identity numbers and insurance numbers.
- Exact dates of birth, full addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.
- Photographs of the face, distinctive tattoos, jewellery or other features, unless they are essential and consent for publication has been obtained.
- Any combination of age, rare condition, location and dates that would allow someone who knows the patient to recognise them.
Images
Clinical photographs, radiographs and pathology images must be cropped or masked so that the patient cannot be recognised. Black bars across the eyes are not enough when the rest of the face, a unique scar or on-image text still identifies the person. Identifying text burned into an image file must be removed from the file, not only covered in the legend.
Consent
Written consent for publication is required when a patient could still be identified, and whenever a recognisable image is included. Consent should state that the report may be published online and may be read worldwide. For a child, or for an adult who cannot consent, consent is obtained from a parent or legally authorised representative. If the patient has died, authors follow the rules of their institution and local law, and they still remove detail that is not needed for the clinical lesson.
Consent forms are uploaded with the submission for the editors only. They are stored as private files and are not published with the article. Authors keep the original consent in the clinical record.
Editorial review
Editors may ask for further de-identification or for consent before a manuscript proceeds. A submission that exposes a patient without a sound reason and without consent will not be published. Concerns about a published article should be sent to the editorial office through the contact form.