CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY Instructions for Authors

The Canadian Journal of Cardiology (CJC) is the official journal of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS). The CJC is a vehicle for the international dissemination of new knowledge in cardiology and cardiovascular science, particularly serving as the major venue for Canadian cardiovascular medicine. The CJC publishes original reports of clinical and basic research relevant to cardiovascular medicine, as well as editorials, review articles, and case reports. Papers on health outcomes, policy research, ethics, medical history, and political issues affecting practice, as well as letters to the editor, are welcomed. The CJC accepts and publishes articles in the English language only. Manuscripts are received with the understanding that they are submitted solely to the CJC and that none of the material contained in the manuscript has been published previously or is under consideration for publication elsewhere, with the exception of abstracts. Redundant or duplicate publications will not be considered. Duplicate submission is a significant breach of scientific ethicalprinciples and may result in sanctions. All statements and opinions are the responsibility of the authors. The CCS reserves copyright on all published material, and reproduction of the material, even by the authors, requires written permission. With submission of a manuscript, a letter of transmittal must indicate that all authors have participated in the work and that they have reviewed and agree with the content of the article, that none of the article contents are under consideration for publication in any other journal or have been published in any journal, and that no portion of the text has been copied from other material in the literature (unless in quotation marks, with citation).

EDITORIAL POLICY

Each issue of the CJC carries the following statement, to which the authors agree when they submit a manuscript for consideration:

Statements and opinions expressed in the articles and communications herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Editor(s), Society, or publisher, and the Editor(s), Society, and publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such material.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form in English or in any other language, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright to the CCS. A letter will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript, and a form facilitating transfer of copyright will be provided.

If previously published materials are included in the manuscript, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the articles. Copies of letters granting permission must be submitted with the manuscript. Copyright fees, if any, are the responsibility of the author(s).

AUTHORSHIP

Each person designated as an author should qualify for authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

The manuscript should conform to the guidelines in "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals," 5th edition, prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and published in N Engl J Med 1997;336:309-15 and Can Med Assoc J 1997;156:270-7, available online at http://www.cma.ca/mwc/uniform.htm.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATIONThe CJC will accept online submissions of original manuscripts through the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) at http://ees.elsevier.com/cjc. Manuscripts submitted through this online system can easily be tracked by the authors, editors, and reviewers through final disposition. The corresponding author of the manuscript will receive automatic email notifications as the manuscript proceeds through the system. To begin using this system, go to http://ees.elsevier.com/cjc. Click the "Register" link on the toolbar at the top left to input author demographics and set up an account. After registration is complete, a notice will be sent via email indicating a user ID and password. Use this information to log in as an author by choosing the "Login" link on the toolbar, and select "Submit New Manuscript." Follow the prompts to complete the submission according to the specifications below. Be aware that the manuscript (with abstract included within), each table, and each figure need to be prepared as separate files following the guidelines listed below. Contact the editorial office if you have any problems or questions. Your user ID and password can be changed at any time by logging into http://ees.elsevier.com/cjc with your user ID and password and then clicking the "Change Details" link at the top of the page.

Submit a complete electronic version of the manuscript including all text elements (see below for order and content) as a Microsoft Word file, ensuring that it is double-spaced throughout. Arrange the manuscript as follows: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, funding sources, disclosures, references, tables, figure legends, figures. Number the pages consecutively, beginning with the title page as 1. The last name of the first author should be typed at the top of each page.

Title Page: Include the title, authors' names (including full first name and middle initial) and academic affiliations, and a short title of up to 50 characters (spaces are not counted). Be sure that authors' names are listed as they should appear in MEDLINE. Provide the word count on a separate line. Provide the full name, exact mailing address with postal code, telephone and fax numbers, and email address of the author to whom communication, proofs, and requests for reprints should be sent.

Brief Summary: For Original Papers, CCS Guidelines or PositionStatements, Translational Medicine articles, and Review articles, on a separatepage, provide a brief summary of no more than 75 words, which will appear inthe online contents listing (and in the print issue for the e-only articles section, ifapplicable) to inform readers of the principal contents of each paper. For CaseReports, Images in Medicine, Training/Practice papers, and Brief Rapid Reports, a 60-word summary shouldbe provided.

Abstract: On a separate page provide an abstract of no more than 250 words (for Original Papers, CCS Guidelines or Position Statements, Translational Medicine, and Review articles) or 100 words (for Case Reports and Brief Rapid Reports) that summarizes the study and conclusions, with clinical implications indicated as appropriate. Whenever possible, conclude the abstract with a succinct sentence that summarizes the most important novel finding(s) of the paper and its (their) relevance. Original Papers should have a structured abstract, with the following sections: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Abstracts for CCS Guidelines or Position Statements, Translational Medicine, Training/Practice papers, and Review articles, while the same length (250 word maximum) as those for Original Papers, should be unstructured (no Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions headings).

Manuscript Text: Text files must be saved as Microsoft Word files. To ensure that the final, published version matches the electronic file, use one of the following fonts: Arial, Courier, or Times. The use of other fonts may result in missing symbols. The font size should be 12 points. Abbreviations must be defined at first mention in the text and should follow the form recommended in "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals." Appropriate headings and subheadings should be provided in the Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. References, tables, and figures should be numbered in the order of mention in the text. Authors are encouraged to conclude the Discussion with a brief paragraph summarizing the most important novel elements of the study and their relevance to cardiovascular medicine.

If experimental animals are used, provide a statement in the text to indicate that all procedures followed were approved by an institutional animal research ethical review board. (This is a requirement for such studies to be published in the CJC.) If human subjects are involved, the text must indicate that all gave informed consent and that the protocol was approved by the institutional human research ethics review committee.

Acknowledgements: Individuals who contributed significantly to the research or preparation of the manuscript may be acknowledged. The Acknowledgements section should follow the main text, continuing on the same page.

Funding Sources: Any and all relevant funding sources for the study should be listed, including funding from industry and peer-review funding (with grant numbers if available). Funding Sources should be indicated in a separate paragraph after the Acknowledgements section.

Disclosures: All potential conflicts of interest must be identified in this section. Potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include: relationships with pharmaceutical and biomedical device companies or other corporations whose products or services are related to the subject matter of the article, from which any of the authors may obtain potential financial benefits. Such relationships include, but are not limited to, employment by an industrial concern, equity or stock ownership by authors or family members, membership on a standing advisory council or committee, being on the board of directors or publicly associated with the company or its products, where the concern produces products whose value or perception could be influenced by the content of the article. Other areas of real or perceived conflict of interest could include receipt of honoraria or consulting fees or receiving grants or funds from such corporations or individuals representing such corporations. Intellectual property rights held by the authors for inventions relevant to the subject of the article should also be declared. Funding by peer-review grant agencies does not generally constitute a conflict of interest, unless the funding is for intellectual property development related to the material covered in the paper from which the authors stand to obtain potential financial gain. Peer-review funding relevant to the material covered in the paper that does not constitute a conflict of interest should be indicated in the Funding Sources section that precedes the Disclosures section. If there are no potential conflicts of interest, this should be designated by indicating "none" in the Disclosures section. Disclosures should be indicated in a separate paragraph after the Funding Sources section.

References: Identify references in the text by Arabic numerals set as superscript. Type the reference list double-spaced, on pages separate from and following the text, with each reference numbered consecutively in the order in which it is mentioned in the text. (References cited in tables and figures, but not in the text, should also be numbered following the text references.) Personal communications, manuscripts in preparation, and other unpublished data should not be cited in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text in parentheses. Identify abstracts with the abbreviation "Abst" and letters to the editor by "Lett" in parentheses; in general, abstracts should not be cited if more than two years old.

The reference style is that of Index Medicus. Journal references should contain inclusive page numbers; book references specific page numbers; and website references the date of access (references to other types of electronic documents should include format of the document). Journal abbreviations should conform to those used in Index Medicus, National Library of Medicine. The style and punctuation of references are as follows.

Periodical
List all authors if six or less; otherwise list first three and add "et al." Do not use periods after authors' initials. Kohl P, Day K, Noble D. Cellular mechanisms of cardiac mechano-electric feedback in a mathematical model. Can J Cardiol 1998;14:111-9.

Book
Svensson LG, Crawford ES. Cardiovascular and Vascular Disease of the Aorta. Toronto: WB Saunders Company, 1997:184-5.

Chapter in Book
Trehan S, Anderson JL. Thrombolytic therapy. In: Yusuf S, Cairns JA, Camm AJ, Fallen EL, Gersh BJ, eds. Evidence Based Cardiology. London: BMJ Books, 1998:419-44.

Website
National Library of Medicine. Images from the History of Medicine. <www.ihm.nlm.nih.gov> (Accessed on January 5, 1999).

Tables: Tables should follow the References and precede the figure legends in the same Microsoft Word file as the text of the paper. Tables must be created using Microsoft Word (.doc) or Excel (.xls). Type tables double-spaced on a separate sheet for each table, with the table number and title above the table and explanatory notes below. Table numbers should appear in Arabic numerals and should correspond to the order of the tables in the text. In a footnote to each table provide an alphabetical listing of all abbreviations used. Written permission must be obtained from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) to reproduce any previously published table or adapted table.

Figure Legends: Figure legends should follow the References and tables in the same Microsoft Word file as the text of the paper. Type figure legends double-spaced, with figure numbers corresponding to the order in which the figures are presented in the text. Identify all abbreviations appearing in figures in alphabetical order at the end of each legend. Provide enough information to allow interpretation of the figure without reference to the text. Written permission must be obtained from the copyright holder (usually the publisher) to reproduce any previously published figures. Cite the source of the figure in the legend. Figure legends should not appear in the figures themselves.

Figures: Figures must be submitted in electronic format. All images should be at least 5 inches wide. Images should be provided in RTF, TXT, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, or EPS format. Macintosh or PC is acceptable. Graphics software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, not presentation software such as PowerPoint, CorelDraw, or Harvard Graphics, should be used to create figures. Color images must be CMYK and at least 300 DPI. Gray scale images should be at least 300 DPI. Combinations of gray scale and line art should be at least 1200 DPI. Line art (black and white or color) should be at least 1200 DPI.

Authors are encouraged to submit all figures in color. All figures submitted in color will be published in color online free of charge. Select color figures will be published in color in print at the Editor-in-Chief's discretion. Otherwise, the author(s) must pay the cost of color printing, which is $650 for the first figure and $100 for each additional figure.

Videos: Videos may be submitted for publication online, at no cost to the author(s). Video clips should be submitted as MPG, MOV, AVI, or GIF files. The author(s) should verify that all video clips take less than one minute to load and that they play properly. The file size should be less than 1.5 MB. Larger clips are permissible with 3-D images.

Supplementary Material for Online Publication:Incases where information associated with an article is too extensive for publication in the Main Paper (eg, detailed methods, data sets, additional figures or tables), thiscontent can be included as online-only supplemental information. Allsupplementary material (other than videos) should be incorporated in a singlePDF file at the time of manuscript submission. The materials should amplify theinformation in the print article and must be called out sequentially in the text (eg,Supplemental Methods, Supplemental Table S1, Supplemental Table S2, etc; Supplemental Figure S1). Eachset of online supplementary information should be numbered beginning with S1,and continuing as S2, S3, etc. Titles and/or legends for each supplementary figureor item should be included within the table or figure so that it appears in theappropriate place in the PDF file. Supplementary material will not be typeset.

Article Classifications
At the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, submissions may be accepted for eitherprint or online publication. Case Reports and Images in Cardiology papers are generally published online only. Word-count limits (see below) generally refer to all elements ofthe article, including the abstract, acknowledgements, references, tables, and figurelegends.

Original Papers are generally limited to 4,500 words, including all elements(title page, abstract, text, references, tables and figure legends) in the principalMicrosoft Word file, except for brief summary, word count, and short title. Rare exceptions tothe word length limit may be granted by the Editor-in-Chief for specific reasons.

Editorials and Viewpoint Papers. Editorials are normally invited. However, unsolicited Editorials and Viewpoint articles are welcomed and will be submitted for peer review. The distinction between Editorials and Viewpoints is that an Editorial will generally present comments on an article (usually accompanying it in the same issue of the Journal), whereas Viewpoints will present comments on a topical and/or controversial issue in clinical or basic cardiovascular medicine. Editorials should cite the paper commented on as one of the references in the paper. Length for both Editorials and Viewpoint papers should be no more than 2,000 words including all elements (title page, text, references, tables and figure legends). No abstract or brief summary should be provided. Conflict of interest guidelines apply.

Review articles may be invited but unsolicited articles are also welcome.Reviews should not exceed 6,000 words including all elements (title page,abstract, text, references, tables and figure legends). They should include a 250-word unstructured abstract as well as a 75-word summary should be provided for online listing.

Systematic Reviews/Meta-analyses follow the same length and structure guidelines as Review articles, but are executed according to standards for the appropriate article type.

CCS Guidelines and Position Statements are definitive positions taken byCCS-mandated committees on areas of clinical importance for which there is aneed of guidance on diagnostic and therapeutic management. The word limit isgenerally 10,000 words for CCS Guidelines and 6,000 words for PositionStatements including all elements (title page, abstract, text, references, tables, andfigure legends). Additional materials can be included as Online SupplementaryMaterials (see above). Additional options for publication of more extensivedocuments that must be approved prior to submission are 1) publication of theExecutive Summary in the print journal with the full document available as anexternally funded journal supplement, which will generally be industry-sponsored(see guidelines for CJC supplements at www.onlinecjc.ca); 2) exceptionally, aseries of papers in a theme issue of the Journal. If funds available are sufficient fortypesetting but not printing, the full document can be published online. In someinstances for which the size and focus of a series of guidelines papers can beaccommodated in a specific appropriate theme issue of the CJC, option 2) mayapply. In case of doubt, the authors should consult directly with the Editor-in-Chief. All CCS Guidelines and Position Statements published in CJC should havean unstructured 250-word abstract. Because of the extensive review that CCSGuidelines and Position Statements undergo at the level of the Secondary ReviewPanel and the CCS Guidelines Committee, these papers will generally bereviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and his/her designate rather than being sent toexternal peer-reviewers.

Guidelines and Position Statements from other societies and groups.These must deal with an issue of interest in cardiovascular medicine and can beconsidered for publication in CJC based on scientific merit and pertinence to themission of CJC. The word limit is 6,000 words including all elements (title page,abstract, text, references, tables and figure legends). Additional materials can beincluded as Online Supplementary Materials (see above). Additional options forpublication of more extensive documents that must be approved prior tosubmission are: 1) publication of the Executive Summary in the print journal withthe full document available as an externally funded journal supplement, which willgenerally be industry-sponsored (see guidelines for CJC supplements at www.onlinecjc.ca); 2) publication of the full article in print with printing costs(established by the CJC publisher Elsevier in consultation with CCS) defrayed bythe submitting society or body. In case of doubt, the authors should consultdirectly with the Editor-in-Chief. All Guidelines and Position Statements publishedin CJC should have an unstructured 250-word abstract. Depending on the internalreview process that these Guidelines and Position Statements undergo (eg,Secondary Review Panel, etc), these papers may be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and his/her designate rather than being sent to external peer-reviewers. Thefinal decision on review process will be made by the Editor-in-Chief, based oninformation provided at submission.

Co-publication with other journals of Guidelines and PositionStatements. In general, CJC does not favor co-publication. In instances in whichanother society or organization is involved intimately and officially with CCS inelaboration of the Guidelines or Position Statements, co-publication will beconsidered. In such instances, agreements regarding co-publication should bemade by the parties concerned (CCS, CJC and other participating societies/journals) atthe onset of Guidelines/Position Statement committee deliberation.

Case Reports must be informative to those in clinical practice. Case Reportsshould address uncommon presentations and/or treatments of commonconditions, provide new insights into pathogenesis, or represent a newlyrecognized condition. The author(s) should provide sufficient literature review toplace the report into context. No more than five references and two figures willbe accepted, and the length should not exceed 1,000 words including all elements(title page, abstract, text, references, tables and figure legends). An abstract of nomore than 100 words should accompany the article and a 60-word summaryshould be provided for online listing.

Images in Cardiology papers demonstrate particularly insightful images usedin the detection of cardiovascular disease. The imaging modality may be old ornew. The text of submissions for this section should be limited to that necessary to describe the context and importance of the image(s) and should not exceed 500 words including all elements (title page, text, references, and figure legends). No more than five references and two figures will be accepted. Noabstract should be included, but a 60-word summary (not included in word-count limit) should be provided foronline listing.

In general, both Case Reports and Images in Cardiology are published online only. If the authors cannot include all materials they would like to make available within the word count/figure limits, additional figures, tables, text, etc can be provided in a Supplementary Material section (see above).

Journal News and Commentary papers are short non-scholarly papers that comment on the state of the journal or an issue. For example, this would include brief Forewords to supplement issues or comments by the editor about progress of the journal, new features being planned, changes to policies, etc. Such papers are limited to a maximum of 1200 words and 5 references. They do not normally have display items, but a maximum of 1 figure or table can be included in exceptional cases to make specific points in a clearer fashion. No abstract or summary are to be included.

Training/Practice papers present information of interest to practitioners, such as practical technical and patient management instruction or matters relating to health policy and promotion, as well as guidelines for Canadian cardiovascular training programs. These papers are primarily intended for guidance in practice, health promotion and/or training and are not detailed scholarly items--scholarly analyses should be submitted in the appropriate category (Clinical Research, Systematic Reviews/Meta-analyses, Review papers, Translational Medicine or Viewpoints). The text of submissions for this section should be no more than 1500 words. No more than five references and two display items (figures and/or tables) will be accepted. An unstructured abstract of no more than 250 words should accompany the article and a 60-word summary should be provided for online listing. Submissions are divided into 2 subsections: 1) Contemporary Issues in Cardiology Practice, which will highlight issues of relevance to clinical practice in the face of rapidly-advancing technologies and new medical knowledge, and 2) Training/Health Policy and Promotion, which deal with matters relating to health policy and promotion, as well as aspects relevant to cardiovascular training programs.

Translational Medicine articles are generally invited, but unsolicited articles are also welcome. This section is intended to present reviews or meta-analyses dealing with novel scientific findings or concepts with important clinical relevance or application. Areas of potential application include (but are not limited to) physiology, pharmacology, molecular biology, genetics, genomics, pharmacogenomics, population science, etc. Word length and other guidelines are the same as for Review articles.

Brief Rapid Reports are brief papers reporting the results of clinical or basic research that is limited in scope but time-sensitive and of unusual interest. Articles for this section will receive rapid editorial attention, with a decision generally provided within two weeks of submission, rapid (within six weeks of acceptance) online publication, and print publication in the next available issue. Papers submitted for this section will be accepted with at most minor revision. If major revision is needed, the paper will subsequently fall into the Original Papers category. The submission cover letter should explain why the article is considered appropriate for this category. Maximum length is 2,000 words, with a 100-word abstract and a maximum of three illustration items (figures plus tables). A 60-word summary should be provided for online listing.

Letters to the Editor may deal with any subject of current interest to cardiovascular medicine. If the subject concerns a recent publication in CJC, the letter will normally be forwarded to the authors for comment. Both the letter and the response may be edited for clarity or brevity. Letters should not exceed 400 words, with no more than four references and one figure or table. Conflict of interest guidelines apply.

REPRINTS: A reprint order form will be sent to the corresponding author when the article is accepted and submitted to the publisher.

COPYRIGHT AGREEMENT: The corresponding author must sign a copyright agreement, which will be sent to the author when the manuscript is accepted for publication.

OPEN ACCESSThis journal offers you the option of making your article freely available to all via the ScienceDirect platform. To prevent any conflict of interest, you can make this choice only after receiving notification that your article has been accepted for publication. The fee of $3,000 excludes taxes and other potential author fees such as color charges. In some cases, institutions and funding bodies have entered into agreement with Elsevier to meet these fees on behalf of their authors. Details of these agreements are available at http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies. Authors of accepted articles who wish to take advantage of this option should complete and submit the order form (available at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/openaccessform.pdf). Whatever access option you choose, you retain many rights as an author, including the right to post a revised personal version of your article on your own website. More information can be found here: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.

CHECKLIST

• Cover letter
• Title page:
  

  - Article title
  - Full names and affiliations of all authors
  - Name, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address of corresponding author
  - Short title
  

• Abstract
• Summary
• Article main text (including Acknowledgements, Funding Sources, and Disclosures sections at end)
• References
• Tables
• Figure legends
• Figures (in a separate file(s))
• Permission to reproduce previously published materials
• Informed consent for patient photographs

Stanley Nattel, MD
Editor-in-Chief
Professor of Medicine and Paul-David Chair in Cardiovascular
Electrophysiology, University of Montreal
Cardiologist and Director of Electrophysiology Research Program, Montreal Heart Institute
5000 Belanger St. E.
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H1T 1C8
T: 514-376-3330 ext 3990
F: 514-593-2493
E: stanley.nattel@icm-mhi.org

Updated March 2012