Collaboration between Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxford Medical Case Reports

With the publication of a case of paediatric bullous dermatosis from Guinea [1], we are very pleased to announce the launch of a collaboration among Oxford University Press, ‘Oxford Medical Case Reports’, and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). Physicians have been writing and publishing detailed descriptions of their patients’ health conditions for millennia, but the first case reports journal as we know it today was that of the Royal College of Physicians of London, instigated in the 18th century by the pioneering doctor William Heberden. Since then, medicine has advanced out of all recognition (notably by being able to apply statistical methods to medical research), but the value of the individual case report or care series remains. This is especially true for rare conditions or those occurring in situations out of the ordinary