Instructions to Authors

Manuscript Format

Our journal accepts case reports, case series, letters to the editor, and review articles. Review articles are accepted only when they offer substantial academic value — specifically systematic reviews with a clearly defined, reproducible methodology; narrative reviews without a structured methodology are not considered. The following table shows the accepted structure of manuscripts for publication, and what requirements they must meet.

Letters to the Editor do not require an abstract or keywords.

Systematic reviews must follow the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines. Authors are strongly encouraged to register their review protocol (e.g., in PROSPERO) prior to submission, and must submit a completed PRISMA checklist and flow diagram alongside the manuscript.

General Guidelines

• You must submit a digital copy of your manuscript.
• Keep the format of your manuscript simple and clear.
• The manuscript, including the title page, abstract and keywords, text, references, figure captions, and tables should be typewritten, double-spaced in Times New Roman font, 12-point with 1-inch margins all around and saved as one file.
• Please be sure to explain all of abbreviations the first time they are used in the text.
• The manuscripts should be written in American English.

Case Report and Case Series Structure (CARE Guidelines)

Case reports and case series must be structured according to the CARE (CAse REport) Guidelines (www.care-statement.org), and should include the following elements, in order:

1. Title — should include the diagnosis or intervention of primary focus, followed by “case report” (e.g., “… : A Case Report”).
2. Abstract — structured under the headings: Introduction, Patient Concerns, Diagnosis, Interventions, Outcomes, Conclusion.
3. Keywords — 3 to 6 keywords, including “case report” as one of them.
4. Introduction — brief background on why this case is unique, referencing relevant medical literature.
5. Patient Information — de-identified patient demographic and relevant history information.
6. Clinical Findings — relevant physical examination and clinical findings.
7. Timeline — key dates and events of the case, presented as text, a table, or a figure.
8. Diagnostic Assessment — diagnostic methods, challenges, and reasoning, including differential diagnosis.
9. Therapeutic Intervention — types of intervention, administration, and any changes made.
10. Follow-up and Outcomes — clinical outcome, treatment adherence, adverse events, and follow-up results.
11. Discussion — strengths and limitations of the approach used, discussion of the relevant medical literature, and the scientific rationale for conclusions.
12. Patient Perspective — where possible, the patient (or family/caregiver) should share their perspective on the case and treatment in one to two paragraphs.
13. Informed Consent — a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from the patient (or legal guardian) for publication, including any accompanying images.

For review articles, it is recommended to follow the PRISMA 2020 reporting guidelines. Authors are strongly encouraged to register their review protocol (e.g., in PROSPERO) prior to submission, and must submit a completed PRISMA checklist and flow diagram alongside the manuscript.

Cover Letter

• The type of the manuscript should be specified on the cover letter (case report, case series, letter to the editor, or review article).
• The authors should confirm that their manuscript is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration by another journal.
• The authors should give information about financial or other types of support; also, about any conflict of interest.
• For review articles, authors should state the review type (e.g., systematic review) and confirm that it follows a clearly defined, reproducible methodology (e.g., PRISMA).
• The authors should confirm that they retain copyright of their manuscript and grant Pediatric Academic Case Reports a non-exclusive license to publish it under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) in the event of publication.

Title Page

• The title page should list the article title and the corresponding author's full name, degree, title, department, affiliation, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone. It should also list the full name, degree, title, ORCID, department, and affiliation of every co-author.

Abstract

• The abstract should be prepared up to 300 words, structured per CARE (Introduction, Patient Concerns, Diagnosis, Interventions, Outcomes, Conclusion).

Main Document

• Please clearly distinguish the hierarchy of headings within the manuscript by using capital letters, underline, italic, and bold styles as necessary.
• As needed, use italic, superscripts, subscripts, and boldface, but otherwise do not use multiple fonts and font sizes.
• Do not insert page or section breaks except where noted in the Author Instructions.
• Use hard returns (the Enter key) only at the end of a paragraph, not at the end of a line. Allow lines of text to break automatically in your word processing software. Do not justify your text.

References

• References must be listed in AMA style, using Index Medicus journal title abbreviations.
• References follow the article text. Insert a page break between the end of text and the start of references.
• References must be cited sequentially (NOT alphabetically) in the text using numbers in parentheses.
• For more than three authors, list the first three followed by et al.

References should be styled per the following examples:

Figure Captions

• Figures must be cited sequentially in the text.
• Figure captions should be written after the reference list.
• Each figure should be saved as its own separate file. Do not embed figures within the manuscript file.

Tables

• Create tables using the Table function in Microsoft Word.
• Data given in tables should be commented on but not repeated in the text.
• Tables should appear after the figure captions.
• Any abbreviations used in the table should be explained at the end of the table in a footnote.

Submission Procedure

Always review your manuscript before submitting it. You may stop a submission at any phase and save it to submit later. After submission, you will receive a confirmation email. You can also check the status of your manuscript by logging in to the submission system. The Editor in Chief will inform you via email once a decision has been made.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

Authors may use AI-assisted technologies (e.g., large language models, grammar or language tools) to improve clarity, readability, or formatting of manuscripts.

• Authors must disclose any use of AI in the manuscript.
• AI tools cannot be listed as authors.
• Authors remain fully responsible for the content, accuracy, integrity, and originality of the manuscript.
• Use of AI to generate or manipulate data, create false results, or produce misleading content is strictly prohibited.

Failure to disclose AI use or misuse may be treated as a breach of publication ethics.

Sample AI Disclosure Statement for Authors

Plagiarism

All manuscripts submitted to Pediatric Academic Case Reports are screened for textual similarity using Turnitin before peer review. Similarity reports are evaluated by the editorial team in context rather than solely on the basis of a numerical similarity score. Manuscripts containing inappropriate textual overlap, plagiarism, or other forms of publication misconduct may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected, depending on the nature and severity of the issue. Suspected plagiarism will be handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Revisions

When submitting a revised version of a paper, the author must submit a detailed “Response to the reviewers” that states point by point how each issue raised by the reviewers has been covered and where it can be found (each reviewer's comment, followed by the author's reply and line numbers where the changes have been made) as well as an annotated copy of the main document.

Peer Review

All submissions undergo a double-blind peer review process by at least two independent reviewers.

Copyright and Licensing

All articles in Pediatric Academic Case Reports are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for any purpose, including commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited.

Forms & Downloads

Please download and complete the following forms, and upload them along with your manuscript at submission.

Editorial Contacts

M. Furkan Korkmaz,
Editor-In-Chief
korkmazmfurkan@gmail.com
editor@pacrjournal.org