Case Report and Case Series Policy

The Journal of Endodontics and Restorative Dentistry publishes clinical case reports and case series that provide educational, clinically relevant, and scientifically valuable information in the fields of endodontics and restorative dentistry.

Patient Consent

For all clinical case reports and case series involving patients, authors must obtain written informed consent from the patient before submission. If the patient is a minor or lacks the capacity to provide consent, written informed consent must be obtained from the patient’s parent, legal guardian, or authorised representative.

The consent must cover the publication of clinical details, images, radiographs, intraoral photographs, and any other information included in the manuscript. When a patient may be identifiable, the patient or legal representative should be informed about the content intended for publication.

The journal may request a copy of the signed consent form during editorial assessment or before publication. Consent forms should not be uploaded as part of the published article and should not include unnecessary personal information.

Patient Anonymity and Protection of Identifiable Information

Authors must make every effort to protect patient privacy and anonymity. Identifying information, including names, initials, hospital numbers, exact dates, addresses, or any other direct identifiers, must not be included in the manuscript, figures, tables, radiographs, or supplementary files unless scientifically essential and specifically covered by written informed consent.

Clinical photographs, radiographs, and other images must be anonymised before submission. Any information that may identify the patient or institution should be removed or masked. However, patient data should not be altered or falsified in a way that could compromise the scientific meaning of the case.

Consent Statement in the Manuscript

All submitted and published case reports and case series must include a patient consent statement. This statement should be placed in the manuscript under a separate heading such as “Patient Consent” or “Informed Consent”.

Suggested statement:

“Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report and any accompanying clinical images.”

For minors or patients unable to provide consent:

“Written informed consent was obtained from the patient’s parent/legal guardian for the publication of this case report and any accompanying clinical images.”

If the case series includes multiple patients:

“Written informed consent for publication was obtained from all patients included in this case series. For patients who were minors or unable to provide consent, consent was obtained from their parent/legal guardian.”

Ethics Approval

Ethics committee approval may be required for some case reports and case series depending on national regulations, institutional requirements, and the nature of the submitted work. Authors are responsible for confirming whether ethics committee approval is required. If approval was obtained, the name of the ethics committee and approval number must be stated in the manuscript.

If ethics committee approval was not required, authors should include a statement explaining this, where appropriate.

Reporting Standards

Authors are encouraged to prepare clinical case reports in accordance with the CARE reporting guidelines. Case reports should include sufficient clinical detail, including patient information, clinical findings, diagnostic assessment, treatment/intervention, follow-up, outcomes, discussion, and clinical relevance.

Case series should clearly describe patient selection, diagnostic criteria, treatment protocol, follow-up period, outcomes, and limitations.

Peer-Review Criteria for Case Reports and Case Series

Clinical case reports and case series are evaluated through the journal’s standard double-blind peer-review process. In addition to general scientific and ethical criteria, reviewers and editors assess the following points:

1. Clinical relevance and educational value

2. Novelty or significance of the case or case series

3. Diagnostic and therapeutic clarity

4. Adequacy of clinical documentation, radiographs, images, and follow-up

5. Protection of patient anonymity and confidentiality

6. Presence of an appropriate patient consent statement

7. Compliance with ethical requirements

8. Consistency with CARE reporting principles, where applicable

9. Scientific accuracy and clarity of discussion

10. Relevance to endodontics, restorative dentistry, or closely related fields

Manuscripts that do not provide adequate patient consent, fail to protect patient confidentiality, or include identifiable patient information without appropriate consent may be returned to the authors or rejected.