How to Write a Case Report With a Multidisciplinary Team

A case involving several specialties benefits from a multidisciplinary author team, but it needs clear roles, an agreed workflow, version control and early agreement on authorship under ICMJE criteria. Planning prevents delays and disputes.

Set up

1. Name a lead author who coordinates the report.
2. Define roles: who writes which section, who checks clinical details, who handles consent, images and the literature search.
3. Agree authorship and order in writing, based on contributions (see What Are the ICMJE Authorship Criteria?).
4. Agree a timeline with draft, review and submission dates.
5. Choose a shared platform with version control that is permitted by your institution (no patient identifiers in unapproved tools).

Workflow

• Lead writes the first draft of the case and timeline.
• Each specialist reviews their section for accuracy and adds interpretation.
• Lead integrates feedback and produces one clean version.
• All authors review the full manuscript, approve the final version and confirm accountability.
• Lead handles submission and responds to reviewers with input from the team.

Resolving differences

Clinical opinions may differ. Use the literature and discuss; where differences remain, describe them honestly in the discussion rather than hiding them.

Illustrative example

Invented for teaching. A report on a child with a rare syndrome involves paediatrics, genetics and radiology. The paediatric resident leads, the geneticist checks the genetic findings, the radiologist writes the figure legends, and all agree on author order at the first meeting. Each reviews the final draft before submission.

Common pitfalls

• Too many people editing the same file.
• Different versions circulating by email.
• Adding authors who did not contribute.

Key takeaways

• Agree roles, authorship and process early.
• Keep one master version and protect privacy.

This page is general educational information about research methods. It is not medical, legal or regulatory advice; follow your institution's ethics board and your target journal's instructions.