In December last yearJournal of Medical Case Reportslaunched itsresearcharticle type. Introduced as part of the journal’s ambition to support innovation in case reporting, research articles allowJournal of Medical Case Reportsto act as a platform to analyse the impact, and improve the reporting of, case reports and associated information.

In the first of the research papers published byJournal of Medical Case Reportsthis month Nancy N Byl looks at usingwearable robotic leg orthoses增强下肢的ph值的有效性ysical therapy in chronic stroke victims. Our second research paper by Ritwik et al examines the prevalence and characteristics ofsalivary gland tumoursin children and adolescents, collecting valuable data on this rarely reported type of cancer.

Research which utilizes case reports in this way allows for wider conclusions to be drawn from a collation of individual reports and identification of trends in treatments. In the future we also hope to publish research into the way case reports are conducted, ultimately contributing to improvements in case reporting itself.

With the launch of the research article type and publication of these first papers we hope to encourage authors to submit work on topics such as N of 1 trials, meta-analyses of published case reports, research addressing the use of case reports and the prevalence or importance of case reporting in the medical literature and retrospective studies that include case-specific information.

In this era of evidence-based practice, we need practice-based evidence and case reports are an excellent and often underused form of clinical data. Research papers which utilize case reports provide a lens which can bring this data into greater focus, ultimately helping the medical community to make more informed decisions when treating their patients. To submit your own research article please follow the link to our submission page which can be foundhere.