AJVR Case Report
Author Instructions: Case Report
The digital edition of AJVR is the journal of record. Accepted articles will be published in the digital edition.
Case Report: Reports a single patient with a newly recognized disease or novel treatment of a recognized disease. Reports of a known disease in a previously unreported species, a newly recognized manifestation of a known disease, or variations of a reported treatment will not be considered.
Objective/purpose: To identify and disseminate newly recognized diseases, new methods of diagnosis, or novel treatments to the broader veterinary community.
Limits
Title: ≤ 160 characters
Word count: ≤ 1,400 (excludes acknowledgments and references)
Figures: ≤ 4 total
Formatting (applies to main text, references, and figure legends)
- 8.5 x 11-inch page size
- Sequential line numbering (starting with title)
- Double spaced
- Left justification
- 12-point font
- 1-inch (2.5-cm) margins
- Word document
Organization
Manuscript text file (in order of inclusion; uploaded as a single document)
- Title page—Includes the following:
- Manuscript title—Includes the final diagnosis and affected species.
- Author list—Limited to 6 authors. Include the first name, middle initial (if applicable), and last name of each author, along with each author’s professional degree and highest earned academic degree (eg, MS or PhD, MPVM) and, for authors who are diplomates of veterinary specialty organizations recognized by the AVMA’s American Board of Veterinary Specialties or similar specialty organizations recognized by other countries, diplomate status (eg, DACVS or DACVIM), although specialty (eg Large Animal) should not be included with the diplomate status. List a bachelor’s or associate’s degree only if it is the author’s only degree. Do not list other specialty board designations, certifications, or honorary degrees. Fellowship or membership designations (eg, MRCVS) and honorary degrees should not be listed. Credentials such as CVT, RVT, LVT, and RN may be listed alongside the author’s highest earned academic degree.
- List of professional affiliations of the authors at the time of case management.
- Name and email address of the corresponding author.
- Body of manuscript (≤ 1,400 words)—Includes the following sections:
- History and Physical Examination Findings: Provides the patient's signalment and a short description of the patient's history, including pertinent clinical and laboratory findings.
- Diagnostic Findings and Interpretation: Includes all pertinent diagnostic abnormalities and lists the diagnosis and differential diagnoses considered.
- Treatment and Outcome: Provides a description of the clinical management and outcome of the case.
- Comments: Provides a brief discussion of the clinical relevance, differential diagnoses, treatment, and outcome of the case and focuses on the novel aspects of the case, rather than on the disease or condition itself. Authors are encouraged to discuss features that contributed to making the diagnosis.
- Acknowledgments, Disclosures, and Funding
- Authors will be required to address these 3 statements during submission. This information does not need to be included in the manuscript document.
- Acknowledgment/s: Identify individuals who made important contributions to the study but who do not meet the criteria for authorship. If none, include the statement “None reported.”
- Disclosure/s:
- Include any conflicts of interest related to the manuscript. Include relevant financial interests (eg, ownership, employment, consultancies, honoraria, paid expert testimony, grants, patent-licensing arrangements, equity interests, and service as an officer or board member), activities, relationships, and affiliations (other than those listed on the title page of the manuscript). If none, include the statement “The authors have nothing to disclose.”
- Include the use of any artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted technology such as ChatGPT or another large language model in the writing of the manuscript or production of images. If none were used, include the statement “No AI-assisted technologies were used in the generation of this manuscript.” If an AI tool was used, the authors must be transparent in disclosing here, in the disclosures section, which AI tool was used, and how. AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a manuscript.
- Funding: Include all funding, other financial support, and material support obtained directly or indirectly from any third party in connection with information included in the manuscript or with the writing or publishing of the manuscript. If none, include the statement “The authors have nothing to disclose.”
- References: The references are formatted using the current American Medical Association Manual of Style. References are limited to ≤ 5. Primary references (eg, original studies) rather than secondary references (eg, textbooks and review articles) are preferred whenever possible. Please note that authors bear primary responsibility for the accuracy of all references.
Supplementary videos: Videos or animated sequences to support and enhance a manuscript. Video or animation files supplied will be published online only. Examples of content include a clinical examination, ultrasonographic imaging, or narrated figures. Narration is not required. For videos with narration, begin the video with a verbal statement of your name and the purpose of the video, disclose any conflicts of interest, and state any acknowledgments. Narration will be transcribed into a text file by the video-hosting platform using artificial intelligence and reviewed by AVMA Editors for accuracy. No action is required by the authors for this conversion.
Limits
- Minimum time length: 10 seconds.
- Maximum time length: 1 minute.
- Maximum file size: 300 MB.
Figures (optional; ≤ 4 total)
- Figures are to be uploaded separately. Please see our detailed instructions on figures.
- Figure legends: Provided in the main manuscript, following the references. Provide sufficient information to allow the figures to stand alone and be understood without reference to the text. When abbreviations from the main text are used in figure legends, they should be redefined in the legends. When using abbreviations unique to the figures, each should be defined in the legend in alphabetical order (eg, ALP = Alkaline phosphatase. CK = Creatine kinase. TP = Total protein.). See our detailed instructions on figures.
Tables (optional)
- Tables are created with the table tool in Microsoft Word, appear after the list of references and figure legends in the manuscript, and have legends that provide sufficient information to allow the tables to be understood without reference to the text, including defining abbreviations used. They are limited to tabulations of clinicopathologic data and generally included only in reports focused on clinicopathologic abnormalities. Please see our detailed instructions on tables.
Manuscript submission
Manuscripts are submitted electronically at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/avma.
- Enter the manuscript title from the title page.
- Please clearly state in the cover letter how this case report fulfills the objective/purpose of these reports, notably to disseminate newly recognized diseases, methods of diagnosis, or treatments that are applicable to the general veterinary community.
- We strongly encourage a cover letter containing the following information:
- Why is this study important? (2 or 3 sentences)
- What did you find? (2or 3 sentences)
- Why is this study of wide interest? (2 or 3 sentences)
- Is the manuscript for resident credentialling or promotion?
- Suggested 6-10 reviewers with their names and email addresses.
Keywords
You will be required to provide 5 keywords at submission. Keywords increase discoverability, ranking, and visibility in search engine results, and therefore increase readership and citation of a manuscript. Include 1 or 2 of your 5 keywords in the title, in the first 2 sentences of the abstract, and throughout the article where they can be worked in naturally and in context. Keywords also help us promote your manuscript.
