Introduction



The American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports is a peer-reviewed, scientific publication that welcomes the submission of original, previously unpublished case report manuscripts directed to ophthalmologists and visual science specialists. The cases shall be challenging and stimulating but shall also be presented in an educational format to engage the readers as if they are working alongside with the caring clinician-scientists to manage the patients. Submissions shall be clear, concise, and well-documented reports. Brief reports and case series submissions on specific themes are also very welcome.

All manuscripts that satisfy evaluation criteria are peer reviewed. If a manuscript is accepted for publication, its authors are notified of this decision and requested to pay an Article Processing Fee of USD 1110 excluding taxes for case reports, case series and brief reports or an Article Processing Fee of USD 620 excluding taxes for case images in ophthalmology. Following payment of this fee, the article is made universally available to all on www.sciencedirect.com.

For inquiries relating to the submission of articles please visit this journal's homepage. For detailed instructions on the preparation of electronic artwork, please visit https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, will be provided by the publisher. You can track accepted articles at https://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle. You can also check our Author FAQs at https://www.elsevier.com/authorFAQ and/or contact Customer Support via https://service.elsevier.com.

Before you begin

Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Ethics in publishing.

Conflict of interest

All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Any relevant conflict of interest should be disclosed in the Author Declaration form and in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no conflicts of interest then please state this: 'Conflicts of interest: none'. More information.

Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing

The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.

Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.

Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.

Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.

Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.

Submission declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

Preprints
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).

Use of inclusive language

Inclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive.

Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses

Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, authors should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigor and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.

Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g., chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). A binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth (""sex assigned at birth""), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviors, and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as non-binary. Moreover, the terms ""sex"" and ""gender"" can be ambiguous—thus it is important for authors to define the manner in which they are used. In addition to this definition guidance and the SAGER guidelines, the resources on this page offer further insight around sex and gender in research studies.

Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated. Funding sources and their roles should be disclosed in the Author Declaration form and in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript.

Author contributions

For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review & editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. More details and an example.

Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information.

Funding body agreements and policies

Elsevier has established a number of agreements with funding bodies, which allow authors to comply with their funder's open access policies. Some authors may also be reimbursed for associated publication fees. To learn more about existing agreements, please visit https://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies. After acceptance, open access papers will be published under a noncommercial license. Authors requiring a commercial CC BY license, can apply after the manuscript is accepted for publication.

Submission declaration and verification

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' section of our ethics policy for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service CrossCheck.

Use of previously published material

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet). Permission must be obtained from the copyright holder prior to article submission to the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports. When reusing copyrighted material, state from whom the permission has been obtained and whether the material has been modified and reference the original source.

Attesting to authorship contributions

All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed. Authors must attest that each meets the 4 criteria of authorship defined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors during the "Additional Information" step of the manuscript submission process; this attestation will be automatically included in the Acknowledgment Section of the manuscript when published. These criteria require that an author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content as well as take responsibility for the integrity of their coauthors as well. One or more authors should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, from inception to publication. Authorship contributions should be disclosed in the Author Declaration form and in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript.

The order of authorship on the byline should be a joint decision of the co-authors. Authors should be prepared to explain the order in which authors are listed.

Once a manuscript has been submitted, the order of authorship (including adding or removing authors) should not be changed. Exceptions must be approved by the Editor-in-Chief and the Corresponding Author. The Corresponding Author is responsible for assuring that all the involved authors concur with the change.

Dual First-Authorship
If requested, we can provide dual-first authorship if two authors have contributed equally to a paper. In that case a footnote will be added to the author names and an explanation will be given.

Open access

Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.

Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete an 'Exclusive License Agreement' (for more information see https://www.elsevier.com/OAauthoragreement). Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license (see https://www.elsevier.com/openaccesslicenses).

Author rights

As an author, you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. For more information see https://www.elsevier.com/copyright.

Elsevier supports responsible sharing

Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals.

Open access

This is an open access journal: all articles will be immediately and permanently free for everyone to read and download. To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an article publishing charge APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or on their behalf e.g. by their research funder or institution. Permitted third party (re)use is defined by the following Creative Commons user licenses:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

For non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article.

The open access fee for this journal is USD 1100, excluding taxes, for case reports, case series, and brief reports article types. The open access fee for case images in ophthalmology is USD 620, excluding taxes. Learn more about Elsevier's pricing policy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/24519936/publish/open-access-options.

Elsevier Publishing Campus

The Elsevier Publishing Campus (www.publishingcampus.com) is an online platform offering free lectures, interactive training and professional advice to support you in publishing your research. The College of Skills training offers modules on how to prepare, write and structure your article and explains how editors will look at your paper when it is submitted for publication. Use these resources, and more, to ensure that your submission will be the best that you can make it.

Language (usage and editing services)

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). Authors who feel their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible grammatical or spelling errors and to conform to correct scientific English may wish to use the English Language Editing service available from Elsevier's WebShop. Editors and writers do not meet the authorship criteria; however, their contributions must be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript.

Research Ethics

Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper.

Patient Consent to Publication

Please include a consent statement in the Patient Consent section of the manuscript. Specify who provided consent (patient or legal guardian) and whether consent was obtained in writing.

Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained where an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in an Elsevier publication. Written consents must be retained by the author and copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained must be provided to Elsevier on request. For more information, please review the Elsevier Policy on the Use of Images or Personal Information of Patients or other Individuals, https://www.elsevier.com/patient-consent-policy. Unless you have written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin), the personal details of any patient included in any part of the article and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

Institutional Review Board Approval

Please state whether the study was approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB). Every study submitted as Brief Report or Case Series including 3 or more cases must have a statement on IRB approval. IRB approval should be disclosed in the manuscript.

Online manuscript submission

The American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports accepts online submission of manuscripts through Editorial Manager. When a manuscript is submitted online, authors, selected reviewers, editors, and the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports office can track the progression of the manuscript until a final disposition is made.

Submit your article
Please submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/ajocr/default.aspx.You will receive submission confirmation via e-mail within 24 hours. If you experience difficulties with submission, visit our Support site.

For comments and questions about submitting your article, you may contact the Editorial Office:

Nancy Nicklas
Stellar Medical Publications
20 North Street
Plymouth, MA 02360
Tel. 508-732-6767 x13
Fax 508-732-6766
Email: [email protected]

Article evaluation criteria

The following criteria are used to evaluate each article submitted to the Journal:

  1. Originality (not containing plagiarism)
  2. Novelty (not previously published)
  3. Scope (of interest to ophthalmologists and visual science specialists)
  4. Quality (challenging and stimulating content)
  5. Format (presented in an educational format to engage the readers)
  6. Structure (clear, concise, and well-documented reports)
  7. Compliance (submissions must be complete and follow the instructions for authors)

To be accepted for publication, an article must satisfy all seven criteria. The Editor considers opinions of referees in deciding whether an article satisfies these criteria. This decision may be subjective due to the nature of some of these criteria. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision cannot be appealed.

Peer review

This journal operates a single blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the Editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. More information on types of peer review.

Referees

Please submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of two potential referees. Authors may also submit the names and institutional e-mail addresses of individuals whom they prefer not to review their manuscript. Note that the editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

Confidentiality of editorial and review processes

The American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports maintains confidentiality of editorial process. All communications of editors with authors and referees are confidential. The nature of the single blind review process permits the disclosure of authors’ identities to referees while identities of referees remain confidential at all times. Referees are obligated to maintain confidentiality of all aspects of the review process including but not limited to authors’ identities, content of a manuscript, and the fact that the manuscript is under consideration by the Journal. Failure to maintain confidentiality of review process by editors or referees will result in appropriate disciplinary action.

For confidentiality purposes, the Editorial Office does not retain copies of rejected manuscripts; referees do not retain copies of manuscripts they reviewed regardless of editorial decision to accept or reject a manuscript.

GENERAL MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION GUIDELINES

Peer review

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

Use of word processing software

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. Snellen visual acuity measurements should be notated using the standard distance from a target measured in feet, e.g. 20/20, 20/25, 20/30, 20/40, etc.

Number the pages of the manuscript consecutively, beginning with the Title Page as page 1. Authors should insert continuous line numbering in the word document of the manuscript with the line double spaced. Please use a spell-checker in addition to careful editing of the manuscript before submission.

When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork.

Article type

The American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports accepts brief reports, case reports, and case series submissions. Each type of publication is defined as follows:

  1. Brief report: Complete reports of early-stage, pilot studies that provide valuable insight into an important clinical problem.
  2. Case report: A case in which the natural history of the pathological condition is described.
  3. Case series: Two or more cases in which the natural history of the pathological condition is described.

    Brief reports, case reports, and case series do not have limits on the number of words, figures, or references that can be included.

  4. Case images in ophthalmology: Images are pictures including external, fundus, gross and/ or microscopic photographs and or other still images that illustrate a key clinical finding or important artifact. The images do not have to be unusual, but should be unique and should convey an important message. The aim of the article should be (1) to educate or (2) to remind readers of a classical finding or the answer to a diagnostic dilemma or (3) to demonstrate an important clinical correlation or event or (4) to inform readers of a common artifact to prevent incorrect diagnosis and treatment.

    Follow the guidelines below to prepare a Case Images in Ophthalmology submission.

    Text should be no more than 500 words and include: Case Report (one paragraph describing clinical scenario), Discussion (one paragraph of discussion of the findings), and Conclusions (one paragraph describing conclusions and importance of the findings). A caption describing the image should be included.
    The maximum number of reference is three. A maximum of four high-quality images may be submitted.

    Guidelines (for Case Images in Ophthalmology submissions only):

    • Abstract: Not required
    • Word limit: Maximum of 500 words (including references and legend)
    • Structure of manuscript: Case Report, Discussion, Conclusion
    • Tables: None
    • Figures: Four or less
    • Acknowledgments and Disclosures: Should include Funding, Conflict of Interest, Authorship, and Acknowledgments subsections
    • References: Up to three
    • Figure Caption(s): One for each figure
    • Patient consent: Consent statement should be included in the Authorship Declaration form. Considering the word limit, the statement doesn't need to be included in the body of the manuscript.

Article structure

Organize and prepare the manuscript to include the following sections:

Case report:

  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Case report
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Patient consent
  • Acknowledgments and Disclosures
  • References
  • Figure captions

Case series:
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Findings
    • Case 1
    • Case 2
    • Case n
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Patient consent
  • Acknowledgments and Disclosures
  • References
  • Figure captions

Brief report:
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Patient consent
  • Acknowledgments and Disclosures
  • References
  • Figure captions

Case images in ophthalmology:
  • Abstract (optional)
  • Keywords
  • Case report
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments and Disclosures
  • References

Follow the recommendations listed below to prepare each section of the manuscript.

  • Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

  • Case report/Findings

Include all relevant case details, e.g., patient characteristics, intervention, outcome, complications, and follow-up.

  • Material and methods

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. State that the study and data accumulation were carried out with approval from the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB), Informed Consent for the research was obtained from the patients or subjects, and, for US authors, the study is in accordance with HIPAA regulations

  • Results

Results should be clear and concise.

  • Discussion

This section should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

  • Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion.

  • Patient consent

  • Indicate whether written consent to publish personal information and case details has been obtained from the patient (please see the Research Ethics section for more information). Please do not submit signed consent forms via Editorial Manager or send them to the editorial office unless explicitly requested by the editorial staff. Please instead complete the Patient Consent section of the manuscript while retaining copies of the signed forms in the event they should be needed.
    Sample statements:
    • The patient(s)/patient's legal guardian consented to publication of the case in writing/orally.
    • Consent to publish the case report was not obtained. This report does not contain any personal information that could lead to the identification of the patient

  • Acknowledgments and Disclosures

  • Disclose all sources of funding, grant support, relevant conflict of interest, author eligibility, and other contributions in this section.
    • Funding:
      List the funding sources. If there are none, state, "No funding or grant support"
    • Conflicts of Interest:
      Disclose any conflict for each author separately. List those with disclosures first and then state, "The following authors have no financial disclosures: (insert initials of the authors who have nothing to disclose).
    • Authorship:
      Insert the following statement to disclose compliance with authorship requirements: "All authors attest that they meet the current ICMJE criteria for Authorship"
    • Acknowledgements:
      Any other contributions to present work should be acknowledged, e.g. statisticians, medical writers or editors, technical help, etc. If none, write, "None."

  • Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

Genetic Results Reporting Requirements

  • The term "variant" along with current classification ("pathogenic", "likely pathogenic" or "variant of unknown significance") should be used rather than "mutation".
  • Variants should be classified according to the ACMG-AMP guidelines (Richards, et al., 2015. Genet Med. 17(5):405-24).
  • Variants should be validated by Sanger sequencing and this should be stated clearly.
  • When presenting a pathogenic variation that is allegedly novel, there needs to be information on how "novel" was determined (i.e. database searches (https://gnomad.broadinstitute.org, etc?), literature searches, etc...). If it is indeed novel, "pathogenic" classifications must also be supported by in silico predictions, in vitro functional assays if available, and low prevalence in control databases, as well as segregation of the pathogenic variation with affected vs non-affected family members.
  • The technique for genetic testing (NGS, whole exome, whole genome, CMA, targeted testing), the size of large panels (if applicable), and the testing lab should be referenced. It should be stated if the testing lab is or is not CLIA certified.
  • Heterozygous pathogenic variants in genes that cause recessive disease should be verified by segregation analysis to confirm they are biallelic.
  • For non-novel pathogenic variants, the original publication(s) should be referenced. Previously reported patterns of inheritance should be explicitly stated (recessive, dominant, X-linked, mitochondrial).


Claims of Priority

Statements asserting that "?this is the first report?" can be difficult to substantiate because of the inability to confirm with absolute certainty whether similar reports exist among publications not easily searchable in digital databases (e.g. PubMed), especially publications in non-English languages. Even conditional statements with the disclaimer "?to our knowledge?" may still be problematic, in the event that the readership brings to our attention a previously published similar report. Because it is difficult to uphold such a broad claim, we discourage the general use of this language in submitted manuscripts. If authors wish to state that their case is unique among those found in a literature search, we recommend including in the manuscript a declaration such as, "After conducting a literature review on (Date) utilizing PubMed, Google Scholar, and (other search engines A, B, C) using the key words (X, Y, Z), we did not find any prior reports of....

Title page

The title page must include:

  • The title of the article (informative and concise; avoid questions, declarative sentences, and abbreviations).
  • The full name of each author and complete address of institutional affiliations. Academic degrees should not be provided.
  • The name, address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address of the Corresponding Author.
  • Do not list any acknowledgments or disclosures on the title page.

Title:

The manuscript's title should be as brief as possible and no longer than 135 characters and spaces. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Authorship:

Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author. Once a manuscript has been submitted, the order and number of authors should not change.

Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author. The Corresponding Author will be responsible for all questions about the manuscript and for reprint requests. Only one author can be designated as Corresponding Author; the Corresponding Author need not be the first author on the manuscript. Select a Corresponding Author who will be located at the same address for an extended period in order to respond to post-publication correspondence. Corresponding authors that do not reply in an expeditious manner to all correspondence from the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports both before and after acceptance may be restricted from further submissions to the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports.

Essential title page information

Title. The title should be concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations.
Corresponding author.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

Highlights

Highlights are optional yet highly encouraged for this journal, as they increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any). Please have a look at the example Highlights.

Highlights should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).

Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but, if essential, they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

The abstract should be structured, i.e., it should include the following headings:

Case Reports and Case Series

  • Purpose
  • Observations
  • Conclusions and Importance

Brief reports

  • Purpose
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusions and Importance

The abstract of a Case Images in Ophthalmology article is optional and does not have to be structured. It may present a single paragraph.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Abbreviations

Restrict abbreviations to those that are widely used and understood by all ophthalmologists. Avoid abbreviations that have meaning only within the context of the specific manuscript. Introduce each abbreviation in parentheses after the first use of the full term in each portion of the submission including in the abstract, in the text, in the figures captions, and in the tables. Système International units and abbreviations of standard measurements, such as mm Hg, cm, and mL, are used without initial expansion. Avoid abbreviations in any titles, headings, or subheadings.

Acknowledgements and Disclosures

Collate acknowledgements and disclosures in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.

Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

Artwork

Digital figures
Whilst it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following policy: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.

Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option.
• Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol, or use fonts that look similar.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions to illustrations separately.
• Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the published version.
• Submit each illustration as a separate file.
• Ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format.
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts.
TIFF (or JPEG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPEG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors;
• Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.

Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color online (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites). For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

References

Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley and Zotero, as well as EndNote. Using the word processor plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide.

Reference style
Text
Numbering:
References should be numbered consecutively in the text and in the reference list.
In the text, reference numbers are entered as superscripts.
Example:
  • '..... as demonstrated3,6. Barnaby and Jones8 obtained a different result ....'
Abstract references:
Any references cited in the abstract must be cited parenthetically in full within the text, not as bibliographic references.
Unpublished references:
Personal communications, unpublished results, articles submitted for publication, etc, should be cited parenthetically within the text, not as bibliographic references. The corresponding author or source should provide authorization for use of this type of information.
Example:
  • (Evans DW, written communication, September 1, 1997)
  • (Evans DW, et al; unpublished results; 2015)
Conference abstracts:
Abstracts should be avoided. If used, abstract citations should appear parenthetically within the text, not as bibliographic references, in the exact format recommended by the meeting.
Example:
  • (Roska BM, et al. IOVS 2002;43:ARVO E-Abstract 1415)

Reference list
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). The list of references should appear at the end of the article in the References section. Format the list of references according to the following guidelines. References should follow the current AMA format.

Examples:

  • Journal article: Robinson MR, Reed G, Csaky KG, Polis MA, Whitcup SM. Immune-recovery uveitis in patients with cytomegalovirus retinitis taking highly active antiretroviral therapy. Am J Ophthalmol 2000;130(1):49-56.
  • Article accepted but not yet in press or online: van der Hoek L, Pyrc K, Jebbink MF, et al. Identification of a new human coronavirus. Nat Med. (forthcoming).
  • Article in press: van der Hoek L, Pyrc K, Jebbink MF, et al. Identification of a new human coronavirus. Nat Med. (in press). Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
  • Article accepted and published online but not yet in press: van der Hoek L, Pyrc K, Jebbink MF, et al. Identification of a new human coronavirus. Nat Med. https://doi.org/10.1038.nm1024.2012.02.25.
  • Book: Rootman J, Stewart B, Goldberg RA. Orbital surgery: a conceptual approach. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1994:1-394.
  • Book chapter: Macsai MS, Mannis MJ, Huntley AC. Acne rosacea. In: Mannis MJ, Macsai MS, Huntley AC, editors. Eye and skin disease. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 1996:335-341
  • Web reference: International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Available at https://www.icmje.org. Accessed November 12, 2006.

    Web references should be limited to important full-length articles that are not available in print or have been updated on the Internet since initial print publication. If a print reference is available, it should be used. Because Internet articles frequently are not available at a future date, the authors must make a print copy of the material they are referencing from the Internet, hold it indefinitely, and provide it to the AJO Case Reports at any time in the future

  • Dataset: Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S, Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015.

Journal abbreviations source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations: http://www.issn.org/services/online-services/access-to-the-ltwa/.

Reference accuracy
Increased discoverability of research and high quality of peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is encouraged. The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents. PubMed offers a useful reference checker at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/citmatch.html.

Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Video and animation clips

Elsevier accepts video material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Videos or animations demonstrating novel techniques or variations or existing techniques that can be used to accomplish superior therapeutic outcomes are particularly welcome. Video or animation files should not be used as stand-alone submissions, so they must accompany an article. If you choose to include one or more video or animation file in your submission, please follow the instructions below to ensure proper formatting.

  1. Label all submitted files properly so that the name directly relates to the video file's content.
  2. Provide the files in one of our recommended file formats (MP4, MPG, MOV, AVI, GIF) with a preferred size of 50 MB or less to ensure that this material is usable. Files slightly larger than 50 MB may be accepted. If you experience difficulties with submission of large video or animation files in Editorial Manager, please contact the Editorial Office; alternative submission options exist for these files.
  3. Refer to the file(s) as you would to a figure or table within the body of the article. Example: ‘…To accomplish this, we developed a novel surgical technique (Video 1).’
  4. Supply one still frame per video or animation file: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video data.

Video and animation files supplied will be published online with your article on ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Data visualization

Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.

Research data

This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings, which may also include software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project.

Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data linking
If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.

There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.

For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.

In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).

Research Elements

This journal enables you to publish research objects related to your original research – such as data, methods, protocols, software and hardware – as an additional paper in a Research Elements journal.

Research Elements is a suite of peer-reviewed, open access journals which make your research objects findable, accessible and reusable. Articles place research objects into context by providing detailed descriptions of objects and their application, and linking to the associated original research articles. Research Elements articles can be prepared by you, or by one of your collaborators.

During submission, you will be alerted to the opportunity to prepare and submit a manuscript to one of the Research Elements journals.

More information can be found on the Research Elements page.

Data statement
To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Interactive Questions

AJO Case Reports encourages authors to complement their case reports with test questions that reinforce the key learning points. These author-created questions are submitted along with the article (new or revised) and will be made available online, along with your paper. More information and examples are available at https://www.elsevier.com/authors/author-services/enrichments/interactive-questions. Test questions are created online at http://authortools.elsevier.com/ici/verification. Create the test questions, save them as a file to your desktop, and submit along with your (new or revised) manuscript as an “e-component” file type.

Checklist for American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports submission

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.

Ensure that the following is correct:

  • One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details: e-mail address; phone number; full postal address
  • Manuscript and abstract are structured properly
  • Title page is formatted properly
  • Figures are of sufficient resolution
  • All figures described in the Figure Captions section are cited in the text, and vice versa
  • Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
  • References are in the correct format for this journal
  • All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa
  • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
  • Funding, conflict of interest, authorship, and other contributions (in the form of acknowledgments) have been disclosed

All necessary files have been uploaded:

All disclosure statements have been included:
  • Conflict of interest statement (in the Author Declaration file and in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript)
  • Statement on the order of authors and authorship eligibility (in the Author Declaration file and in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript)
  • Funding source disclosure (in the Author Declaration file and in the Acknowledgments and Disclosures section of the manuscript)
  • Patient consent statement in the manuscript text
  • Institutional Review Board approval statement in the manuscript text
  • Article Processing Charge acknowledgement in Editorial Manager
  • Open Access acknowledgement in Editorial Manager
  • Funding disclosure in Editorial Manager
  • Authorship statement in Editorial Manager

After acceptance

Online proof correction

To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. Corresponding authors will receive an e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, allowing annotation and correction of proofs online. The environment is similar to MS Word: in addition to editing text, you can also comment on figures/tables and answer questions from the Copy Editor. Web-based proofing provides a faster and less error-prone process by allowing you to directly type your corrections, eliminating the potential introduction of errors.
If preferred, you can still choose to annotate and upload your edits on the PDF version. All instructions for proofing will be given in the e-mail we send to authors, including alternative methods to the online version and PDF.
We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication. Please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

Offprints

The corresponding author will be notified and receive a link to the published version of the open access article on ScienceDirect. This link is in the form of an article DOI link which can be shared via email and social networks. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication.

Author inquiries



Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.