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 specialties, 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 know-how 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 electronically to:
rwemery@healtheast.org

Review policy
A manuscript will be evaluated not only with respect to its scientific competence and accuracy but also to its relative importance in the field of heart valve and heart valve disease and for its probable interest to our readership.  Each manuscript will be reviewed by the Editor and/or Associate Editor and at least 2-3 additional outside reviewers.  Invited reviewers will evaluate each manuscript based on the following criteria:

Originality
The importance of the research question as it pertains to heart valves and heart valve disease;

Scientific integrity
Analytical methods appropriate for data presented;
Data presented in a clear concise method;
Tables, figures, illustrations and references are appropriate for the topic;
Appropriate statistical methods applied and determination if statistical review should be considered;

Manuscript format and content
Are structure, content, grammatical, length and writing style consistent with guidelines;
Is the discussion section relevant;
Is the conclusion section reasonable and support the discussion.

Acknowledgement of manuscript receipt
The corresponding author will receive an acknowledgement by e-mail and an assigned unique tracking number. Any and all communication with the Editor regarding the status of a manuscript will be provided only to authors who identify the manuscript number.  When corresponding with the editorial office manuscripts must be referenced using the assigned number.

Manuscript acceptance, revision and re-review
The corresponding author will be notified by e-mail about the acceptance of a manuscript. If it accepted only conditionally pending revision, the corresponding author will receive all reviewer comments together with the editor’s recommendations. Revised manuscripts must be submitted in three parts: 1) a cover letter that provides a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments; 2) the revised manuscript containing the deletions noted strikethrough and additions in bold; 3) the unmarked revised manuscript.  Revised manuscripts received after 3 months from the ‘Request to Revise” receipt date may be required to resubmit as a new manuscript and will be subject to the entire submission review process.
Manuscripts that have been either undergone substantial revision or contain techniques/technology of controversial topics or articles discussing complex issues are subject to re-review at the discretion of the Editor. 

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

Medical ethics
Human studies.  Manuscripts reporting on human studies must adhere to the principles of the Helsinki Declaration (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm).  Reports describing data obtained from research conducted in human participants must contain a statement in the Methods section indicating approval by the Institutional Review Board. If patients are identifiable from illustrations, photographs, study data or figures, release forms giving permission for publication must be submitted with the manuscript.

Animal experiments. Manuscripts reporting experiments on living animals should adhere to the principles provided in the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (www.nap.edu/catalog/5140.html) .  Manuscripts should also 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.

Scientific contribution
The maximum number of authors is eight, except in the case of multicenter studies. 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

• All manuscripts must be submitted electronically to: rwemery@healtheast.org, with a formal letter of submission. Hard copy submission is not necessary anymore. 
• Type the manuscript double spaced throughout, including title page, abstract, text, references, tables, figure legends.
• Arrange the manuscript pages as follows: Cover letter, title page abstract, text, acknowledgements if applicable, references, tables, figure legends.  Each figure should be attached as a separate JPEG or TIFF file with an original resolution of 300 dpi.
• Number all pages consecutively with arabic numbers, beginning with title page, ending with the (last) page of figure legends.

LENGTH

• The length of an original article should not exceed 4,500 words to include figure legends, tables and references. The combined total number of illustrations, tables and/or figures should not exceed eight and the number of references should not exceed 40.
• Case reports should not exceed 1500 words, two figures or tables and eight references.
• Authors of review articles should consult the editor.
• Brief communications that contain substantive information concerning new, innovative or evolving technologies of clinical and/or scientific data pertaining to heart valves or heart valve disease are encouraged. They should not exceed 1000 words,  two tables or figures and no more than five references.
• Readers are encouraged to submit Letters to the Editor on articles published in the Journal.  Submitted commentary letters will be provided to the original author and author replies will be published along with the commentary.  If the original author does not respond, a notation indicating.  “Response Declined” will be published.  Letters to the Editor should not exceed 750 words, 1 table or figure and 5 references.

TITLE PAGE

• Keep the title as short as possible, not exceeding 12 words. 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 four 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 organization, give the name, venue and date of that meeting at the bottom of the title page.

ABSTRACT

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 abstract in four major parts:

• Background and aim of the study
• Materials and methods
  
• Results
  
• Conclusions

TEXT

• Use the American version of medical/technical English, including spelling. 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 arabi 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 (http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/vancouv.pdf ) 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. Do not use full stop after the last page number. 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;90:593-598
  
  - 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, 1982:326-345
  
  - For books: authors’ names, book title, edition, city, publisher, year of publication, e.g.:
  
  Acar J, Bodnar E (eds). Textbook of Acquired Heart Valve Disease, Volume I and II, 1st edition, London, ICR Publishers, 1995

ILLUSTRATIONS

• All illustrations, graphics and figures should be in JPEG or TIFF format.  The original resolution of the illustrations should be a minimum of 300 dpi. 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, double spaced, listed on a separate page 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. This letter of permission should be submitted at the time the final revised manuscript is submitted.

COPY EDITING

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