Questions and answers about the Reckeweg Clinical Case Award
Frequently Asked Questions
Applications closed for the Reckeweg Clinical Case Award 2024.
Apply for the 2025 Award Today!
The Deadline for eligible cases is Feb 28, 2025.
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General
A clinical case report is a study of health events affecting a single patient. It may present a medical challenge, interesting outcome, or experience with a new treatment. A well-written case report is a useful tool, in that it offers readers an opportunity to gain a better understanding of a particular clinical situation. When shared with other healthcare practitioners, a case report may help to improve future decision making. The CARE (CAse REport) guidelines were developed to promote the publication of high-quality case reports.
The CARE guidelines provide a 13-item checklist to support case report accuracy and transparency. They were developed by the CARE Group to serve as a standard similar to the CONSORT guidelines for reporting randomised controlled trials. The CARE website provides more information: http://www.care-statement.org/
Per year, the Reckeweg Clinical Case Award can be awarded up to three times, each with a value of €5,000.
A preprint is a particular version of a scientific publication that is shared publicly before it has been peer-reviewed. Given a digital object identifier (DOI), it is citable as a reference.
Examples of preprint platforms are SSRN.com (only in English), preprints.ru (in Russian), OSF.io (currently no language restriction), and preprints.scielo.org (in English, Spanish, and Portuguese). Although not a preprint platform, figshare.com also allows posting scientific information in any language. All these platforms require seperate registration. Some universities have their own preprint platforms for their members.
Application
If you’ve published an interesting clinical case report that involves the use of multitarget therapy in a human or animal patient, you can apply for the Reckeweg Clinical Case Award. For further information, visit the submission page.
You will be asked to submit the following:
- The DOI (Digital Object Identifier) of your case report publication or preprint (the manuscript will receive a DOI when it’s posted on a preprint platform or published in a medical journal). If the posting platform does not provide a DOI, we will accept a direct hyperlink to the open-access full-text manuscript. We do not accept hyperlinks to posts on social media.
- The fully completed CARE checklist.
- Your signed authorship and copyright consent form.
- Personal information, including your name, valid email address, specialty, and affiliation(s).
Yes, you can. However, you should submit each case as a separate application.
To apply for the Reckeweg Clinical Case Award, the inclusion of Heel products is not required. However, the clinical case should report on a treatment experience using multitarget therapy.
Yes, you can submit your case report in your native language. However, it must include an English abstract. You should keep in mind that English is considered the language of science worldwide, and more people will be able to read your work in English.
Not necessarily. The minimum requirement for application is that your case report is posted on a preprint platform. We accept both preprints and full publications. For application, you must have a DOI, which you will receive automatically when your case report is posted or published.
- You submitted outdated forms. Only the forms downloadable from the official award website are accepted. Please download the correct forms, and complete, sign, and resubmit them.
- Necessary documents and information are missing from your application. Please submit the DOI of your clinical case report, the CARE checklist, and the authorship and copyright consent form.
We receive applications from all over the world, especially from countries in Europe, Latin America, Russia and Asia.
Odds of winning for all applicants are equal. Logically, they depend on their quiality and the number of applications. All applications are reviewed independently by the international award review panel based on predefined criteria (please refer to the anonymization page). We highly recommend completing the SWIHM case report course and using the CARE-writer™ online application.
We receive many novel and interesting clinical case reports. It’s always a challenge for the award panel to select the winners. To ensure that all applications are treated fairly, the reviewers use predefined criteria to evaluate them. Selection of the winning cases is based on a consensus decision.
Anonymization of patient data
Anonymization is a requirement for publicly sharing any personal health information. Case reports specifically deal with personal health data from patients. Therefore, you must anonymize your case report by removing all personal information, omitting anything that may identify an individual or their relatives, employers or household members. Identifiers can be (this list is not exhaustive):
- Names.
- Geographic subdivisions smaller than a state, including street address, city, county, precinct, and ZIP codes and their equivalent geocodes (except for the initial three digits of the ZIP code if the geographic unit formed by combining all ZIP codes with the same three initial digits contains more than 20,000 people; if the region contains 20,000 people or fewer, the initial three digits of a ZIP code are changed to “000”).
- Details of dates (except year) for dates that are directly related to an individual, including birth date, admission date, discharge date, death date, and all ages over 89; and all elements of dates (including year) indicative of ages over 89, except when such ages and elements are aggregated into a single category of age 90 or older.
- Telephone numbers.
- Fax numbers.
- Email addresses.
- Social security numbers.
- Medical record numbers.
- Health plan beneficiary numbers.
- Account numbers.
- Certificate/license numbers.
- Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plate numbers.
- Device identifiers and serial numbers.
- Universal resource locators (URLs).
- Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
- Biometric identifiers, including finger and voice prints.
- Full-face photographs and similar images.
- Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code, except as permitted by item 3 above.
You can learn more about anonymization in the SWIHM case report course. We recommend using our anonymization checklist.
By signing the authorship and copyright consent form, you confirm that you are the primary author and authorised to grant rights to use and copy the case report to Heel GmbH without infringing on any third parties’ rights. In addition, you confirm that you have anonymised the clinical case report and obtained written patient consent. This information is essential if you wish to participate in the award.
No. You do not need to complete the SWIHM course to apply for the award. But we do recommend watching this 30-minute video training to update your knowledge about case reporting.
You do not need to use the CARE-writer™. However, your case report must fulfil the CARE guidelines, the standard for case reporting. We recommend using the CARE-writer™ because it ensures that you include all the information required by the CARE guidelines.
- Too little information. Try to include all the information necessary to provide a full picture of your case.
- Failure to anonymise all identifiable patient information. The CARE-writer™ allows you to enter information as free text. Make sure not to enter details such as patient names, complete birth dates, villages, or districts. For more details, see the patient consent and anonymization page.
- Omitting full generic drug names (for example, just referring to “glucocorticoids” instead of “hydrocortisone”), dosages, or administration routes. This information is important for evaluating the clinical relevance of a case.
Review process
The review panel includes journal editors, scientists, healthcare practitioners, publishing professionals, and university lecturers from Germany, the UK, and the US. All members are experts in case reporting. The committee also includes two senior medical professionals from Heel GmbH.
The review criteria are divided into 5 categories: formal compliance with CARE-guidelines, readability, level of detail, scientific rationale, and educational value. For more details, click here.
I won—what now?
If there are multiple authors, the corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for coordinating all award-related activities. Normally, the corresponding author will be invited to the ceremony and awarded with the certificate. The awarded prize money will then be transferred to the corresponding author’s account.
The corresponding author will receive the official award certificate during a ceremony in Baden-Baden, Germany. The prize money will subsequently be transferred to your account. Please note that we can only transfer to a valid bank account in your name.
Winning the Reckeweg Award does not automatically lead to publication in a medical journal. A variety of journals accept clinical case reports. A list of these journals and more information on how to write a good manuscript can be found on the SWIHM case report training website. (link)
Award ceremony
The ceremony usually takes place at Heel’s headquarters in Baden-Baden, Germany. Please note that this location may change.
Your flight and accommodation costs will be reimbursed according to the organiser’s current compliance guidelines for the Reckeweg Award. Please note that the organiser is not allowed to make any travel arrangements for spouses or third persons, nor reimburse any costs incurred by them.
Reimbursement of costs associated with the award is governed by EFPIA HCP Code and German law. These regulations restrict the provision of hospitality and travel to only those services essential to attending the event. The organiser will reimburse travel and accommodation costs that facilitate your arrival on the day before the ceremony and enable your return on the day after the event (meaning two nights of hotel accommodation).
You can invite a family member or your partner to the ceremony after consulting with the organiser. However, the organiser will only reimburse your travel costs and accommodation. The organiser is not allowed to make any travel arrangements for spouses or third persons nor reimburse any costs incurred by them.
The organiser will only reimburse your flight and accommodation costs directly related to the ceremony. Your costs for traveling to Baden-Baden on the day before the ceremony and returning on the day after the event will be reimbursed, as will your associated accommodation expenses. If you wish to extend your stay, the organiser will not reimburse you for additional accommodation or travel costs other than those named above.
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