Information for Authors

SteadFAST currently only accepts Case Report submissions from students enrolled in the Physicians Assistant Studies program at UNT Heath Fort Worth. Submissions must include all authors’ names, affiliations, and ORCiDs.

Article types

Case Studies/Reports

Submission requirements

Case Reports

A Case Report should recount an interesting or unusual experience with a patient, discuss the intervention and the reasons it was chosen, and provide the outcome. The manuscript must be written in two main sections: CASE and DISCUSSION. Do not include an introduction before the CASE portion. There may be a final CONCLUSION in which the outcome for the patient is given, but otherwise the patient experience should be confined to the CASE portion of the manuscript. In the DISCUSSION section, review the pertinent literature briefly. Each manuscript should include 3 to 5 key points, which are crucial to the value of a case report as well as 3-5 keywords to assist in indexing and discoverability. Photographs, radiographs, or other types of clinical images should be submitted if appropriate and must have reuse permissions granted for inclusion. Authors should take care to remove any information from the case description that could identify the patient. If this is not possible, authors should obtain the patient’s permission to publish the details of the case and include this permission with their submission.
For more information, see “How to Write a Case Report.”

Authorship and Contributorship

To be eligible for authorship, an individual must have contributed significantly to writing the manuscript, participated in the collection and/or analysis of the data, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Individuals who assisted in the creation of the manuscript but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be named in an Acknowledgements section.

The corresponding author is responsible for the submission and all communication with the journal, including any corrections after publication. The corresponding author does not need to be the first author of the work. Authors must determine the order of authorship before submission.

Ethical Oversight

Authors must obtain permission from patients via the Patient Consent Form to publish anonymized information about their cases. The Patient Consent Form must be uploaded to the submission portal in the “Other Files” section. Authors will be required to provide proof of IRB approval or exemption if deemed necessary. Should IRB approval be required, the approval or exemption letter must be uploaded to the submission portal in the “Other Files” section.

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest. All submissions will undergo an anonymous, unbiased peer review process.

Submissions must be original works, not published anywhere else, and not under consideration at any other journal.

Data Sharing and Reproducibility

When applicable, authors are encouraged to share data that upholds their research findings. Data sharing can improve reproducibility, increase access to research, and boost author exposure. All data should be deidentified to protect patients’ privacy.

Authors should include a data availability statement in their manuscript stating the location data can be accessed. Authors should also cite their data in the references of the manuscript to ensure proper recognition. Authors who decline to share their research data should explain their reasoning in the data availability statement.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Authoring Tools

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper must be transparent in disclosing in the Case Report how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

Citing References

Reference lists should not be overly long. Keep in mind that content should review the literature selectively and should emphasize what is practical, current, and evidence-based. When compiling references for your article, keep the following guidelines in mind:

Cite recent sources. If you are citing a paper that was published more than 5 years ago, the paper should be either one of a kind (a seminal study) or the only source for the data you are citing. If neither of these is the case, you probably either do not need to cite a source at all, or you need to find a more recent one.

Epidemiologic data should be absolutely current. Please look for the most recent information available.

Cite primary sources whenever possible since these carry the most weight. The primary source is the place where the information was first published. For example, the study where the data on the effectiveness of a certain treatment were first reported is the primary source; a review article that cites this study is a secondary source and is less desirable. Check the paper you are citing carefully to make sure that the authors have not, in fact, taken their information from another source. If they have, that other source is probably primary.

Cite peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed primary source information appears in such journals, giving them more credibility than textbooks and medical websites that provide generic reviews.

All direct quotes, including those from government sources, online publications, and publications that are in the public domain—must be presented as such, with quotation marks and appropriate citations. Treating direct quotes otherwise will be considered plagiarism.

Reference all statements that cite data or studies. If your sentence has numbers, the source of the numbers must be referenced.

References Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their references and for correct text citation. Number references sequentially in the text using superscript Arabic numbers. If a reference is cited more than once, it should always have the number assigned to it at its first occurrence. For editing purposes, manuscripts with references must be formatted using the form prescribed in the AMA Manual of Style or the “Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals”. Use the abbreviations for journal titles provided on PubMed.

Any online website citations must include the URL and latest date the author accessed the page to verify its currency. All citations for electronic published content MUST contain the digital object identifier (DOI).

Tables, Figures, Illustrations, and Photos

Legends must accompany all tables and figures. Authors should indicate whether illustrations are original works or copies. All tables, figures, etc. must have appropriate alternative text. Authors must obtain copyright releases for reprinting any previously published material. Copyright permission may also be necessary for any adaptations of previously published material, including tables which have been adapted from other sources. For more information on copyright visit “Copyright.gov”.

If you used AI tools in the creation of a figure or illustration, disclose that fact and describe which AI tool was used and how it was used.

Photographs must be accompanied by written permission of any individuals pictured in the photo, unless the image is historic or considered a public photo. Photograph releases from individuals in the photo should include permission to use the photo in all media forms. Do not embed photos or figures in word processing documents; they must be attached as separate files (JPGS or TIFFs) to your submission.

Editorial and Peer Review Process

SteadFAST only accepts manuscripts from currently enrolled students in the PA program at UNT Health Fort Worth during a predetermined window of time. If you have questions about submissions, please contact SteadFAST@unthealth.edu.

Upon submission, manuscripts will be reviewed for eligibility. Once deemed eligible, manuscripts will route to two peer reviewers for feed back and acceptance. Artificial Intelligence MUST NOT be used for any part of the review process.

Corrections and Retractions

Authors who note an error in their published work should contact SteadFAST@unthealth.edu to request a correction or retraction. The editorial board will review the request and will have the final say in determining whether a correction or retraction will be issued. Authors will be notified within 10 business days as to the result of the editorial review.

Complaints and Appeals

Complaints and appeals should be sent to SteadFAST@unthealth.edu.

Authors should contact the journal for complaints or appeals with a detailed letter explaining the reasoning behind the request. For disagreements over an editorial decision, the editorial board will review the appeal and notify the author within 30 days with their final decision.

Allegations of Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism, falsification of data, manipulation of images, failure to disclose conflicts of interest, improprieties of authorship, and failure to comply with regulatory requirements.

All allegations of research misconduct will first be directed to the Editor-in-Chief, who will review the information in consultation with the editorial board and two members of UNT Health Open Press. Suspected research misconduct in a submitted manuscript will halt the review process, and the journal may request additional details from the author, such as a written explanation of the circumstances or an IRB approval letter. If the concern is resolved after the author provides more information, the review process will proceed without further interruption. If the initial request does not resolve the concern, a formal investigation may ensue based on the severity of the allegation, including contacting the author’s employer, governing institutions, and other regulatory bodies.

Reviewers or editors suspected of misconduct will undergo an investigation and be replaced for the duration of the review process.

Open Access Statement

SteadFAST: Case Reports in PA Studies is an open access journal where all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author by permission of the stated license.

Copyright

SteadFAST believes that authors should retain copyright of their manuscripts and receive clear credit for their work.
Open access articles in SteadFAST are published under a Creative Commons license. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access materials. Under this license, authors retain copyright of all OA articles published in SteadFAST. Authors publishing in SteadFAST grant a non-exclusive distribution right to UNT Health Open Press under a CC BY NC 4.0 license.