Editorial

At the editorial board, we receive numerous ‘case reports’ for publication. Case reports are generally not encouraged as they are low on the level of evidence. However, they provide an opportunity to showcase rare or infrequent presentation and behavior of cases. In addition, the journal publishes conference abstracts of the annual meet of Indian Association of Surgical Oncologists.

An intensive description and analysis of a single individual or (sometimes) group that outlines the interesting disease trajectory or a patient case constitutes case studies [1], usually based in social science with a systematic way of looking at events, collecting data, analyzing information and reporting results. It gives an opportunity to investigate a phenomenon with its real life context thus offering new variables and further questioning. Yin defines the case study method as a form of empirical inquiry that investigates and analyses medical phenomena in its real-life context thus forming a tool for problem based learning method [2].

There are different types of studies and they have been depicted as a flow chart below. Case studies come under the ambit of descriptive study approach but it carries the distinctive advantage of providing an analytical time frame within which an issue or clinical intervention can be examined.

Case studies are flexible which can be presented in different ways yet has many intrinsic advantages and advantages [3] as shown in the table below:

Variable	For	Against
Logistics -Simple	✓
No Ethical issues	✓
Opportunity for Innovation	✓
Challenge Assumptions	✓
Study Rare Phenomenon	✓
Practical improvements feasible	✓
Time		✓
Represents Depth rather than Breadth		✓
Generalization of Results		✓
Is not Representative		✓
Relationship between variables not possible		✓
No Follow-up		✓
Selection Bias		✓
Natural History cant be studied		✓
Doesn’t allow to ascertain several outcomes		✓
Hard to draw definite cause – effect conclusions		✓
Bias in collecting data and also interpretation (since single person gathers and analyses info)		✓
Level Of Evidence		✓

Case studies provide a detailed view of a specific disease, patient or intervention than might otherwise be the case through other method thus providing a window of opportunity. Finally case studies can’t be generalized nor are they unbiased hence it finds its place at the bottom when it comes to levels of evidence or recommendations.

Conference proceedings are a collection of technical papers presented at a professional association meeting. If the publications are filled with full papers, they are considered proceedings, or conference proceedings. Abbreviated papers are referred to as abstracts or conference abstracts. A conference abstract is a short document that is intended to capture the interest of the reader and thus can be considered as an ‘elevator pitch’ for the study. Components of abstract writing include complete, concise, clear and cohesive. Abstract should be a summary of whole paper/presentation, not just results giving a comprehensive outlook. Ensure that practical aspects of abstract comply with requirements and look at past abstracts/conference papers for tone and style. A good abstract is accurate and self-contained. It is concise, specific and non-evaluative. Usage of active voice, short sentences and simple words without jargons will make the abstract coherent and readable. Publication rates of full-text articles after presentation of abstracts at international meetings have ranged from 11 to 78 %, which suggests that at least 32 % of the abstracts presented are never published as complete articles in peer-reviewed journals [4]. Failure to publish was due to one of three main reasons: (1) they did not have enough time to prepare a manuscript for publication (the reason most frequently given); (2) almost one-third of the studies that had not been submitted for publication were ongoing; and (3) relationships with co-authors sometimes presented a barrier to final publication.