Instruction to Authors

Editorial policy
The Journal of Heart Valve Disease publishes peer-reviewed scientific communications pertaining to heart valves and heart valve disease, including but not limited to all issues related to the scientific activity of The Society for Heart Valve Disease. These encompass all relevant clinical, surgical and laboratory specialities, multicenter trials, morphology, physiology, molecular biology, pathology as well as design, materials, test data and performances of replacement devices, relevant instruments and equipment. The scope of articles includes original publications, editorials, current and collective reviews, technical knowhow papers both in surgery and cardiology, case reports, correspondence and book reviews.

Submission of a manuscript to the Journal implies the authors’ assertion that (a) it is original, (b) has not been published before and (c) is not under consideration, or under publication elsewhere. Prior publication of an abstract of 400 words or less does not prejudice the originality of a manuscript.

Address
Manuscripts and all editorial correspondence should be sent to:

The Editor
The Journal of Heart Valve Disease
St Joseph's Hospital,
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery
69 West Exchange Street
St Paul, MN 55102, USA
Telephone: 651-254-4130; Fax: 651-326-8265
e-mail: rwemery@healtheast.org

Copyright
If the manuscript is accepted for publication in the Journal, the copyright of it must be transferred to ICR Publishers, and the copyright transfer document should be signed by all authors of the article.

Medical ethics
Human studies.Manuscripts reporting on human studies and trials should include in the Methods section (a) a statement on the date of approval by the relevant Ethics Committee and (b) the authors’ assertion that informed consent was acquired from each individual included in the study.

Animal experiments. Manuscripts reporting experiments on living animals should include in the Methods section a statement by the authors that the relevant regulations of the country where the experiments were carried out were fully observed.

Conflict of interest
All authors submitting any type of communication to be considered for publication in the Journal are expected to disclose any type of commercial association that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with that communication. All sources of funding of the work should be declared and acknowledged in a footnote. If the corporate or institutional affiliation of an author might constitute a conflict of interest, this fact should be communicated with the Editor in writing when the manuscript is submitted. Such information will be kept in confidence.

Scientific contribution
If there are more than three authors, each author will be required to state the type of scientific participation in the work. This can be (a) conception or design of protocol, collection, assessment or interpretation of data, (b) drafting the manuscript or revising its contents and (c) approval of the final version to be sent for publication.

Language
The language of the Journal is the American version of medical/technical English.

Checklist for manuscript preparation

GENERAL

• Send your submission letter and three copies of the manuscript together with three full sets of tables and labelled illustrations, the latter in three separate envelopes, to the above address.
• Type the manuscript double spaced throughout, including title page, abstract, short abstract, text, references, tables, figure legends, on 22 x 28 cm (8.5 x 11 inch, A4) white opaque bond paper on one side only, with 3 cm (1.25 inch) margins all around, that is top, bottom, left and right side.
  
• Arrange the manuscript pages as follows: title page, short abstract, abstract, text, acknowledgements if applicable, references, tables, figure legends.
• Number all pages consecutively with arabic numbers, beginning with title page, ending with the (last) page of figure legends.
• The length of an original article should not exceed 26 manuscript pages, to include figures, tables and references. Case reports and short communication should not exceed 12 manuscript pages. Authors of review articles should consult the Editor.
• Type the last name of the first author in the right upper corner of every page, including the title page.

TITLE PAGE

• Keep the title as short as possible.
• Provide a short title not exceeding four words. This will be used as running title on the printed pages.
• Give three to five keywords for cross-indexing.
• Give first names, middle initial(s) and last names of all authors with the respective highest academic qualification.
• Give the full name and location of not more than two institutional affiliation(s).
• Give the name, full postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the author to whom all correspondence, including page proofs and requests for reprints should be sent (corresponding author).
• If the paper has been or is to be presented at a meeting of a scientific organisation, give the name, venue and date of that meeting at the bottom of the title page.

SUBSTANTIVE ABSTRACT

This will be printed between the main title and text of the paper (usual abstract location). Keep the length between

• 250 - 300 words for original publication and review articles
  
• 150 - 200 words for case reports and other short communications.
  
• Organize the substantive abstract in four major parts
  - Background and aim of the study
  - Methods
  - Results
  - Conclusions

SHORT ABSTRACT

This will appear in the extended contents of the issue.

• Keep the length to not more than 150 words, and stress the clinical or other practical implications.

TEXT

• Use the American version of medical/technical English, including spelling.
• Organize the text of an original article as (a) Introduction, (b) Materials and Methods, (c) Results, (d) Discussion.
• Do not use abbreviations or acronyms, except for measurements. For the latter, follow the recommendations in “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, 2nd Edition”, published in Ann Intern Med 1982;96:766-71 and Br Med J 1982;284:1766-70.
• Mention every reference, figure (Fig.) and table (Table) in the text and number them consecutively as they first appear.

REFERENCES

• Mark all references with arabic numbers in brackets on the line. Personal communication, manuscript in preparation or sent for publication cannot be quoted as reference; they should be mentioned within parentheses in the text. Manuscript accepted for publication by a journal can be used as reference, stating the name of the journal and specifying “in press”.
• The references should be numbered sequentially in the text and listed, on separate sheets, at the end of the text in that order.
• Reference format should conform to that known as the “Vancouver” style for biomedical journals. Journal abbreviations should conform to the style used in the Index Medicus. The page numbers should be inclusive, providing the first and last pages of the reference. Each reference should include:
  
  - For journals: authors’ names and initials, title of article, journal name, year of publication, volume number, and inclusive pages (list all authors when six or less, when seven or more, list only three and add et al.) e.g.:
  
  Josa M, Khuri SF, Braunwald NS, et al. Delayed sternal closure: an improved method of dealing with complications after cardiopulmonary bypass. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1986;90:598-603
  
  - For book chapters: authors’ names, chapter title, editors’ name, book title, edition, city, publisher, year of publication and pages, e.g.:
  
  Berger HJ, Zaret BL, Cohen LS. Cardiovascular nuclear medicine. In Goldberger E, ed. Textbook of Clinical Cardiology. 1st ed. St Louis: CV Mosby, 1982:326-45
  
  - For books: authors’ names, book title, edition, city, publisher, year of publication, e.g.:
  
  Acar J, Bodnar E (eds). Textbook of Acqired Heart Valve Disease, Volume I and II, 1st edition, London, ICR Publishers, 1995

ILLUSTRATIONS

• The illustrations (three sets of glossy prints) should be numbered and marked lightly on the back with the author’s name, figure number and an arrow to indicate top edge.
• Original drawings should be prepared in black India ink or typographic (press apply) lettering. Typewritten or free-hand lettering is unacceptable. All lettering must be done professionally and should be in proportion to the drawing, graph, or photograph.
  
• Do not send original art work, X-ray films or electrocardiograms. Original prints produced by a laser printer are usually unacceptable, and the illustration should be re-drawn by a professional illustrator.
  
• Bear in mind that the illustrations will be reproduced as single column width (8.25 cm, 3.25 inches) or double column width (17.15 cm, 6.75 inches). Intermediate width will be considered only exceptionally.
  
• The Journal cannot commit itself to reproduce unlimited color illustrations. If color is not absolutely necessary in the Editors’ opinion, the authors will be asked to share the additional expenses by advancing a payment of $ 1,500.00 and $ 350.00 for the first and every subsequent color illustration on a page, respectively.
• Suitable legends should be typewritten, doublespaced, listed on a separate sheet of paper and included at the end of the manuscript.

TABLES

• Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate, the text.
• They should be typed on individual pages separate from the text.
• Provide a brief title for each. Abbreviations used in tables should be defined at the bottom of the table.

Letter of permission
Supply permission from both the publisher and the author to reproduce any previously published illustration or table.

Copy editing
The Editors reserve all rights to make editorial revisions to aid clarity and understanding without altering the meaning.

Electronic manuscripts
Authors are requested to enclose an IBM compatible, MS-DOS formatted 3.5 inch computer disk holding the manuscript in a word processing file, in addition to the items specified in the above checklist. If this cannot be done, please mention it in the letter of submission with the reason for it. Authors are also encouraged to supply the illustrations as .jpg or PowerPoint files, but they should not be inserted in a Word file. The original resolution of the illustrations should be minimum 300 dpi.

Electronic submission by e-mail is encouraged. The letter of submission and the manuscript, tables, illustrations according to the above specifications should be sent to rwemery@healtheast.org. This will speed up the peer review process. Electronic submission, however, does not eliminate the need for submitting hard copies as specified above.