Written consent for publication is required for any case report, case series, or clinical material in which an individual or group of individuals could be identified. This requirement applies to potentially identifiable:
Consent for publication should also be considered and obtained where applicable when a report concerns a deceased individual.
Authors are responsible for obtaining appropriate written consent for publication from the patient or an authorized proxy before submission. The patient or proxy should be informed that the material may be published in an open-access journal and may remain permanently available online.
The publication consent form must identify:
Where consent is provided by a proxy, the circumstances requiring proxy consent should be documented. Examples may include:
Where consent is provided on behalf of a family or group, the person signing should confirm that all relevant members have been appropriately informed.
Authors should retain the original signed consent documentation and provide appropriate confirmation to the journal when submitting the manuscript. This approach avoids unnecessary collection and storage of confidential patient information by the journal.
At submission, authors must attest that:
“Written consent for publication has been obtained from the patient or an authorized proxy where required. The consent covers publication of the case information and any accompanying images or other potentially identifiable material. The original signed consent form is retained by the treating institution and can be made available for verification if required.”
JBPT provides a blank publication consent form on the journal website. Authors may use the journal's form or an alternative institutional form, provided that the alternative form contains all required elements for publication consent. Where an alternative consent form has been used, the journal may request a blank copy of that form to verify that the necessary consent elements are included.
The original signed consent form should be retained by the treating institution or responsible clinical authority, rather than routinely submitted to or stored by the journal. The journal may request appropriate evidence or clarification if there is a legitimate concern regarding consent.
Authors must remove unnecessary identifying information from the manuscript and accompanying material.
Authors should therefore obtain publication consent whenever there is reasonable potential for identification.
Patient photographs, radiographs, CT/MRI images, ultrasound images, pathology images, operative photographs, pedigrees, and similar material must have appropriate publication consent where an individual may be identifiable.
Authors should include an appropriate statement in the manuscript, for example:
“Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images.”
The journal may request clarification, additional documentation, or modification of submitted material where there are concerns regarding:
