The American Thoracic Society invites clinical cases in occupational and environmental lung medicine for its Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) Assembly web page. All cases are peer reviewed.
The clinical case scenarios may include both interesting common problems as well as unusual cases of occupational and environmental lung diseases with a clear educational message. Prospective authors are advised to read through the cases already posted on the site to understand the format of the case reports.
These contributions may be cited on the author's curriculum vitae in the following format:
Ng V, Peress L, Tarlo SM. Acute Pneumonitis in a Thermostat Assembly Worker. [Internet]. Version 1.0. New York: American Thoracic Society; 2005. Available here.
Guidelines for Cases:
1. The cases should not exceed 2000 words.
2. The format of the case is as follows:
- The title page: The title of the case followed by the author’s names, titles, email addresses, and the name of their institutions.
- Case presentation: The details of the case along with graphics, which may include radiographs, computed tomography scans, pulmonary function tests, pathology specimens and micrographs and clinical photographs. The figures should be accompanied by appropriate legends. The legends (but not the figures) should be embedded in the body of the text. Tables may also be added. There is no limit to the number of graphics as long as they are relevant to the case. Images should be in TIF or high quality JPEG format and should be submitted in a separate folder. Each figure should be labeled with the appropriate figure number.
- Questions and answers: A minimum of 3 and a maximum of 8 multiple-choice questions should follow the case presentation. The questions may be related to the etiology, diagnosis, management, prognosis and prevention. The questions should have 5 plausible options and only one correct answer.
- Case discussion: Alternatively, a discussion may follow the case presentation in place of questions and answers. This format may be useful for rare or novel cases of occupational and environmental lung diseases.
- References: The answers or case discussion should be supported by the most relevant references. The number of references should not exceed 15. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references and they should be checked with the original documents before submission. The references should be numbered in the text in square brackets and then written sequentially in the reference list in the Vancouver style.
- Suggested Resources: This optional section will include links to the most useful online resources or articles in print that the author suggests to readers to refer when faced with similar cases.
3. The cases are to be sent by e-mail to kanta@aya.yale.edu with the accompanying figures in a separate folder as attachments. If you have any questions, please contact this e-mail address as well.
Kanta Sircar, PhD, MPH and Phil Harbor, MD, MPH
EOH Web Directors
Instructions for General Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease Clinical Cases
The American Thoracic Society invites clinical cases in occupational and environmental lung medicine. All cases are peer reviewed. The clinical case scenarios may include both interesting common problems as well as unusual cases of occupational and environmental lung diseases with a clear educational message. Prospective authors are advised to read through the cases already posted on the ATS clinical cases page to understand the format of the case reports.
Guidelines for case submission can be found here. Feel free to contact Kanta Sircar, Phil Harbor or Jeremy Falk, ATS Case Editor, if you have any questions.
