Editorial
About case reports and the perverse application of reasonable principles As the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Dermatology, I was pleased to accept the commentary by Dr. Goihman-Yahr regarding case reports and the perverse application of reasonable principles. It is quite true that case reports are not in favor with many journals today. In this editor’s opinion, the simplest and most compelling reason for this apathy is the overwhelming number of them. The second reason relates to the negative influence case reports may incur on the impact factor of a journal. In every single issue of our journal we publish several case reports both in the paper copy as well as online. The reason for continuation of publication of case reports is that many are truly unique and, as such, they add significantly to the literature. We agree with the author that many case reports have a story to tell and the story deserves to be told in abstract, oral presentation and/or poster venues of scientific meetings. Certainly, not all need to be published in scientific journals. Our journal is one that spans the whole spectrum of dermatology from investigative dermatology, clinical
dermatology, infectious diseases, tropical diseases, genetic diseases to cosmetic dermatology and dermatologic surgery. We receive excellent papers from all over the world but must conform to a limited number of pages for each issue and volume. Therefore, we have a responsibility to ensure no one single publication type overwhelms the journal. In addition, as opposed to many journals, our journal has a mission to support underrepresented countries by publishing their reports and articles. We are committed to this mission. At the same time we reward those who achieve a high level of scholarly activity by publication of their work when it reaches the constantly ascending bar required for acceptance in our journal. The cases cited by Dr. Goihman-Yahr’s article are indeed quite worthy. We have been proactive in publishing case reports that are worthy of citation as well. Rokea A. el-Azhary, MD, PhD
International Journal of Dermatology, Email: [email protected]
120 International Journal of Dermatology 2016, 55, 120
ª 2015 The International Society of Dermatology
About case reports and the perverse application of reasonable principles As the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Dermatology, I was pleased to accept the commentary by Dr. Goihman-Yahr regarding case reports and the perverse application of reasonable principles. It is quite true that case reports are not in favor with many journals today. In this editor’s opinion, the simplest and most compelling reason for this apathy is the overwhelming number of them. The second reason relates to the negative influence case reports may incur on the impact factor of a journal. In every single issue of our journal we publish several case reports both in the paper copy as well as online. The reason for continuation of publication of case reports is that many are truly unique and, as such, they add significantly to the literature. We agree with the author that many case reports have a story to tell and the story deserves to be told in abstract, oral presentation and/or poster venues of scientific meetings. Certainly, not all need to be published in scientific journals. Our journal is one that spans the whole spectrum of dermatology from investigative dermatology, clinical
dermatology, infectious diseases, tropical diseases, genetic diseases to cosmetic dermatology and dermatologic surgery. We receive excellent papers from all over the world but must conform to a limited number of pages for each issue and volume. Therefore, we have a responsibility to ensure no one single publication type overwhelms the journal. In addition, as opposed to many journals, our journal has a mission to support underrepresented countries by publishing their reports and articles. We are committed to this mission. At the same time we reward those who achieve a high level of scholarly activity by publication of their work when it reaches the constantly ascending bar required for acceptance in our journal. The cases cited by Dr. Goihman-Yahr’s article are indeed quite worthy. We have been proactive in publishing case reports that are worthy of citation as well. Rokea A. el-Azhary, MD, PhD
International Journal of Dermatology, Email: [email protected]
120 International Journal of Dermatology 2016, 55, 120
ª 2015 The International Society of Dermatology
