A. Who can participate
Internal medicine specialists up to 35 years of age or senior trainees in internal medicine in the last two years of training representing national societies of internal medicine or other institutions who are the official partners of the McMaster International Review Course in Internal Medicine (MIRCIM). Each partner can endorse up to 10 case reports for the contest. Reports are selected by the partner (for instance, through internal qualification).
B. Criteria for submission
1. Only original unpublished case reports endorsed by a MIRCIM partner may be submitted.
2. Case reports should describe an original observation concerning diagnosis, treatment or both. They should fit into one of the following categories:
- Rare conditions.
- Unusual presentation or complications of a relatively common condition.
- A difficult road to diagnosis.
- Cases of high educational value for other reasons.
C. Stages of the contest
Stage 1: Submission of case reports
1. Case reports should be sent by email to the MIRCIM secretariat (secretariat@mircim.eu) with a subject “BCRC 2023”. They should include an abstract, a full text and a poster. See below for detailed instructions.
2. Submissions must be made before February 28, 2023.
3. The submitted case report must be accompanied by the following documents:
- PDF of the submission form signed by the presenting/corresponding author.
- A letter from a MIRCIM partner confirming endorsement of the case report.
Stage 2: Review and selection by the jury
Selected members of the jury, chosen by the MIRCIM Scientific Committee, will be responsible for:
- Reviewing all submitted case reports and approving the reports meeting all required criteria.
- Selecting 20 best case reports for stage 3.
Corresponding author will be notified about approval or rejection within one week after submitting a case report.
The authors of accepted case reports will be requested to register for MIRCIM by March 10, 2023 (extended to March 27, 2023) and eligible for a reduced fee. Please note that the organizers do not cover any expenses incurred on the part of participants.
Stage 3: Oral presentation
The authors of the submissions qualified for oral presentation will be notified by March 31, 2023. The authors will present their case reports at the conference Clinical Cases in Internal Medicine: Learning Through Practice, which will take place on May 11, 2023 (MIRCIM Day 1).
A single presentation should not exceed 6 minutes, with the number of slides adjusted accordingly. See below for detailed instructions on oral presentation. Each presentation will be followed by 4 minutes of questions/ comments from an assigned expert.
All presentations in PowerPoint in a .pptx format must be sent to the MIRCIM secretariat before April 27, 2023.
After the conference the jury will award the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place through voting.
The oral presentations will be recorded and published as open access on the MIRCIM website (www.mircim.eu), social media and video platforms after the conference.
Stage 4: Poster session
All accepted case reports (including those qualified for oral presentation) will be presented as digital posters on May 12 and 13, 2023 in the ICE Congress Centre. The authors are requested to be present by their posters at indicated times. Members of the jury will select 3 best posters through voting.
Stage 5: Award ceremony
The results will be announced at the award ceremony on May 13, 2023 in the ICE Congress Centre. All authors are required to attend the ceremony.
D. Jury
1. Experts chosen by the MIRCIM Scientific Committee.
2. Experts delegated by MIRCIM partners participating in the contest.
3. Chair: person delegated by the Chair of the Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Canada
E. Awards
If a submitted case has more than one author the award goes to the first author or a co-author designated by the first author.
All abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings in Polish Archives of Internal Medicine (www.pamw.pl).
Main awards (oral presentation)
| Award | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diploma | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Publication in Polish Archives of Internal Medicine (IF 5.218) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free attendance at MIRCIM 2024 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free accommodation (up to 3 days) in Kraków at MIRCIM 2024 | Yes | Yes | |
| Free attendance at ECIM 2024 | Yes | ||
| Money prize | €1000 | €600 | €400 |
One case report selected from the oral presentations will be awarded a publication in the European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine (www.ejcrim.com).
PostersThe authors of the 3 best posters will be awarded a diploma and free registration for MIRCIM 2024
F. Guidelines on preparing case reports (abstract, full text, poster)
1. Medical jargon should not be used.
2. The number of abbreviations should be limited with preference for those commonly used. Abbreviations should be spelled out the first time they are mentioned, except from those commonly recognized (eg, ECG).
3. Abstracts and full-text case reports should be submitted as a Word file (PDF and other formats are not allowed).
4. Times New Roman 12 points, font should be used. Figures should be submitted in high resolution as separate files. Preferred formats are either TIFF or EPS.
Suggested structure of a case report
1. Title (short, informative).
2. Authors' names (presenting author listed as the first author).
3. Institutional affiliations.
4. First author’s corresponding email address.
5. Introduction (relevance and importance of the case).
6. Case description:
a) Clinical situation.
b) Course of events.
c) Clinical resolution.
7. Discussion.
8. Conclusions/Lessons to be learned from the case.
Suggested reading on writing case reports: www.acponline.org
Abstract (published in the conference proceedings)
1. Structure: see above.
2. Number of authors: up to 3.
3. Length: up to 500 words.
4. Number of keywords: up to 5.
5. References: none.
6. Figures/tables: none allowed.
Full-text case report (assessed by jurors to qualify for oral presentation)
1. Structure: see above.
2. Number of authors: up to 3.
3. Length: up to 2000 (including abstract).
4. Number of keywords: up to 5.
5. References: up to 8.
6. Figures/tables: up to 3 figures and 1 table.
Poster
1. Size: <10MB
2. Ratio: 9:16 (vertically)
3. Resolution: 1080x1920px
4. Format: PDF, jpg, png, pptx
Submissions that do not meet the above guidelines will be returned for revision.
G. Guidelines on preparing an oral presentation
1. Slide format: 4:3 aspect ratio and 1024 × 768 minimum resolution.
2. Presentations will be played on a computer running Windows 10 and PowerPoint 2016.
3. Presentations must be saved as a PowerPoint .pptx file.
4. Use standard Windows fonts only (avoid non-standard and language-specific fonts).
5. Minimum resolution of embedded images: 300 dpi.
6. Accepted video formats: MP4 (preferred), WMV, AVI.
7. Presentations created on Apple computers should be tested on a Windows computer, preferably running Windows 10, before they are submitted.
8. Private computers may not be used for running presentations.