Journal of Complex Clinical Cases & Diagnostics

Aim

The Journal of Complex Clinical Cases & Diagnostics provides a forum for clinical observations that deepen understanding of difficult diagnoses and complex patient care. The journal focuses on cases in which symptoms, investigations or disease progression challenge the initial clinical assessment and require careful reconsideration of the available evidence.

Its purpose is to make the reasoning behind a diagnosis as useful to readers as the diagnosis itself. Contributions should explain how clinical findings were interpreted, how competing diagnoses were assessed, and how diagnostic decisions influenced treatment and patient outcomes.

The journal welcomes both uncommon conditions and familiar diseases with atypical presentations. Particular attention is given to diagnostic uncertainty, coexisting disorders, conflicting test results, delayed recognition and lessons that can inform practice beyond an individual case. Rarity alone is not the principal consideration; the value of a submission lies in its clinical insight, supporting evidence and relevance to patient care.

Scope

The journal considers contributions across medical and surgical specialties, with particular interest in the following areas:

• Complex clinical presentations: Multisystem disease, overlapping conditions, multimorbidity and presentations that do not follow established clinical patterns.
• Diagnostic reasoning and differential diagnosis: Cases demonstrating how clinical history, examination, investigations and follow-up resolve competing diagnostic possibilities.
• Rare diseases and atypical presentations: Uncommon disorders, unusual manifestations of common diseases and conditions that resemble other illnesses.
• Diagnostic error and patient safety: Missed, delayed or incorrect diagnoses; cognitive bias; communication failures; and opportunities to improve diagnostic practice.
• Imaging and clinicopathological correlation: Cases linking radiological, histopathological and clinical findings, particularly where results are inconclusive or discordant.
• Laboratory and molecular diagnostics: Clinically informative use and interpretation of biochemical, microbiological, immunological, genetic and molecular investigations.
• Complex treatment decisions: Cases in which diagnostic uncertainty, comorbidities, treatment complications or unexpected responses materially affect management.
• Emergency and critical care diagnostics: Time-sensitive diagnostic challenges, rapidly evolving illness and decisions made with incomplete clinical information.
• Technology in clinical diagnosis: Case-based evaluation of artificial intelligence, clinical decision support, digital pathology and emerging diagnostic tools, with attention to clinical validation and limitations.
• Diagnostics in resource-limited settings: Practical approaches to clinical assessment, test selection, referral and diagnostic decision-making where specialist services or investigations are limited.

Relevant specialties include internal medicine, surgery, oncology, neurology, cardiology, infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, nephrology, endocrinology, rheumatology, dermatology, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, emergency medicine, radiology and pathology.

Types of Contributions

The journal welcomes clinical case reports, case series, diagnostic challenges, clinicopathological discussions, clinical images and focused reviews addressing problems encountered in diagnosis and complex care.

Editorial Focus

Submissions should present a clear clinical question, a documented diagnostic pathway and a specific learning point. Authors should distinguish confirmed findings from possible explanations, acknowledge unresolved uncertainty, and report relevant follow-up where available. Patient consent, confidentiality and appropriate ethical oversight are essential.

Subject Keywords

Complex clinical cases; clinical case reports; diagnostic reasoning; differential diagnosis; diagnostic challenges; rare diseases; atypical presentations; diagnostic uncertainty; diagnostic error; delayed diagnosis; multimorbidity; clinicopathological correlation; diagnostic imaging; molecular diagnostics; clinical decision-making; patient safety.