The Autopsy & Case Reports medical journal began 2018 with a different way of publishing its contents. The Editorial Board believes that the continuous publication (CP) model is a major step forward in the scientific publication system, joining other medical journals that have used this model for more than 10 years. The CP model benefits from the online system, allowing the immediate publication of an article as soon as it is ready; that is, peer reviewed, approved by the Editorial Board, copyedited, typeset, and proofread. This way an approved article does not need to wait until a particular issue of the journal is completed, providing a better service to writers and readers by securing faster publishing to the scientific community. The journal will continue to gather articles for four issues per year, with the publishing deadlines on the last day of March, June, September, and December. However, the online journal’s website (http://www.autopsyandcasereports.org) will be continuously fed throughout the year. When the deadline of an issue has passed, it is closed and the next issue starts to be fed. This model permits faster publication of the articles that no longer need to wait for the issue to be completed, entirely following the innovation of the discoveries, and allowing the authors to see their work published as soon as possible.

This innovation will not change the way the articles are being grouped in sections: Editorial, Image in Focus, Letter to the Editor, Autopsy Case Reports, Clinical Case Reports, and so on, which will be maintained. The digital object identifier (DOI) and the way the article will be cited will no longer contain the page numbers, but will be permanently cited with the year, volume, issue, and an electronic number (or e-locator); for example, Tavares NT, Costa A, Damasceno M. Muehrcke’s lines. Autops Case Rep [Internet] 2018;8(1):e2018014. http://dx.doi.org/10.4322/acr.2018.014).

It is imperative that the readers use the “how to cite” information, which is published in every article just below the authors’ names, whenever they cite an A&CR article. The indexing databases have already been informed of the change of publishing model; therefore, authors do not need to be concerned with their article’s indexing. Nothing has changed in the Instructions to Authors on the journal’s website regarding the rules for article acceptance as well as the journal’s particular requests.

By joining this movement of the community of medical journal publishers, we hope to improve the Autopsy & Case Reports contribution to ongoing scientific knowledge.

Bibliography

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Godlee F, Delamothe T, Smith J. Continuous publication. BMJ. 2008;336(7659):1450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a491

Miranda PEV. Continuous publication. Materia 2017;22(1)1-1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1517-707620170001.0241

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The European Respiratory Society. Continuous publication. United Kingdom: ERS; 2017 [cited 2018 March 02]. Available from: http://erj.ersjournals.com/journal/continuous-publication

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Notes

Author notes

Correspondence Fernando Peixoto Ferraz de Campos Internal Medicine Department - Hospital Universitário - University of São Paulo (USP) Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 2565 - Butantã - São Paulo/SP - Brazil CEP: 05501-000 Phone: +55 (11) 30919275 fpfcampos@gmail.com

Conflict of interest declaration