Official Journal of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Guide for Authors
General requirements
The European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EJCTS) welcomes scientific contributions to
the journal in the field of cardio-thoracic surgery. All manuscripts are subject to review by the Editor, Associate Editors, Editorial
Board, Invited Referees and a Statistician when appropriate. Acceptance is based upon the originality, significance, and validity of
the material presented.
Randomized controlled trials (RCT) should be reported in accordance with a recognized checklist.
The checklist used should be mentioned in the Materials and methods section.
Submission letter. All new manuscripts should
be accompanied by a submission letter that includes the following statements: (a) there has been no duplicate publication or submission
elsewhere (see: Eur J Cardio-thorac Surg 1999; 16:1); (b) all authors have read and approved the manuscript; (c) subject to acceptance,
authors will transfer copyright to the Publisher; and (d) there is no ethical problem or conflict of interest (see below). The submission
letter should also indicate the type of paper and the appropriate subject category.
Human research. Authors should stipulate
in the Materials and methods section that informed consent was obtained where applicable and state that the study was approved by their
institutional ethics committee on human research.
Animal research. Authors should stipulate in the Materials and methods section
that all animals received humane care in compliance with the European Convention on Animal Care and that the study was approved by their
institutional ethics committee.
Conflict of Interest Policy. The Editors require authors to disclose any commercial associations
that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. All sources of funding for the work should be acknowledged
in a footnote on the title page, as should all institutional affiliations of the authors (including corporate appointments). Other kinds
of associations, such as consultancies, stock ownership or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements should be disclosed
to the editors in the cover letter at the time of submission. If no conflict of interest exists, please state this in the cover letter.
The editor reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held
responsible for false statements or for failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.
Content of paper
The paper
should be submitted in one of the following article types: Original article (OA); Editorial (ED); Review article (REV); Case report (CR);
Images in Cardio-thoracic Surgery (ICTS); How-to-do-it (HTDI); Letter to the Editor (LTTE); - see the journal for examples. The specification
for each submission category should contain but not exceed the following.
Item
OA
ED
REV
CR
ICTS
HTDI
LTTE
Title page (manuscript)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Maximum number authors
8*
unlimited
8
4
4
4
4
Structured abstract (max. 350 words)
yes
no
no
no
no
no
no
Short abstract (max. 200 words)
no
no
no
yes
no
yes
no
Summary (max. 350 words)
no
no
yes
no
no
no
no
Word count of text (on title page)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Maximum text words
5000
1000
unlimited
1000
50
850
500
Key words (3-6)
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Maximum number of references
25
10
unlimited
10
0
8
5
Maximum number of Tables + Figures**
8
2
8
2
2
2
0
Maximum number of Videos
2
2
2
2
2
2
0
* International multicentre studies, incorporating at least 4 institutions
in different countries, may be allowed additional authors but only at the Editor's discretion. The specific contribution of each author
must then be detailed in the cover letter.
** Figures including composite parts a,b,c, etc. will only be allowed if ALL of the constituting
parts are mounted into 1 image / 1 electronic file.
IMPORTANT NOTES: ALL papers submitted not conforming to the above specifications
will not be considered for review and are subject to outright rejection. Case Reports will only be considered if they are unique
and of exceptional interest to the readership. Letters to the Editor should comment on previous EJCTS publications only. Editorials
and Editorial Comments are by invitation only.
Subject categories. The most appropriate subject category should be
selected and indicated for your paper from the following: Arrhythmia, Assisted circulation, Cardiac general, Cardiopulmonary bypass,
Congenital, Coronary, Esophagus, Experimental, Pulmonary, Thoracic general, Transplantation, Valves, Vascular thoracic.
Language.
Manuscripts must be written in English. Spelling can be British or American, but consistent throughout.
Layout/presentation.
The whole manuscript should be keyed double-spaced throughout. The pages should be numbered. Where appropriate (see table), manuscripts
should be organized as follows: (a) Title page; (b) Abstract and Key words; (c) text with the following sections: Introduction, Materials
and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements; (d) Tables; (e) Figure legends; (f) Video legends; and (g) References. Any figures
and videos should be supplied as outlined below.
Title page. The title page should include a brief and descriptive title of
the article (no abbreviations allowed), the first name and surname(s) of the author(s) (but no qualifications), and the name and location
of the establishment where the research was carried out (in English). The name, address, telephone and fax numbers and the e-mail
address of the corresponding author should be typed at the bottom of the title page. If the manuscript was presented at a meeting,
the meeting name, venue, and the date on which it was read should be indicated. An exact word count of the abstract and of the
text, excluding figures, tables and references, should be given. All sources of funding for the work should be acknowledged in a footnote.
Abstract. The abstract is an essential and the most read part of the paper. It should be factual and free of abbreviations except
for SI units of measurement. The abstract should be printed on a separate page. A structured abstract must have four sections: (1) Objective:
should describe the problem addressed in the study and its purpose. (2) Methods: should explain how the study was performed
(basic procedures with study materials and observational and analytical methods). (3) Results: should describe the main findings
with specific data and their statistical significance, if possible. (4) Conclusions: should contain the main conclusion of the
study.
Key words. Following the abstract, 3-6 key words should be given for subject indexing. They should be taken from Index
Medicus or composed on similar lines.
Text
Introduction: should state the purpose of the investigation and give
a short review of pertinent literature.
Materials and methods: should be described in detail with appropriate information
about patients or experimental animals. Use of abbreviations renders the text difficult to read; abbreviations should be limited to SI
units of measurement and to those most commonly used, e.g. VSD, ASD, CABG. Generic names of drugs and equipment should be used throughout
the manuscript, with brand names (proprietary name) and the name and location (place, state) of the manufacturer in brackets when first
mentioned in the text.
Results: should be reported concisely and regarded as an important part of the manuscript. They should
be presented either in tables and figures, and briefly commented on in the text, or in the text alone. Repetition of results should be
avoided! For statistical analysis, follow the 'Guidelines for data reporting and nomenclature' (Ann Thorac Surg 1988;46: 260-261).
Discussion: is an interpretation of the results and their significance with reference to pertinent work by other authors. It
should be clear and concise. The importance of the study and its limitations should be discussed.
Acknowledgements: of personal
assistance should, if appropriate, be placed at the end of the text.
Tables: should be self-explanatory, supplementing but
not duplicating the text. A brief title should be provided. Any abbreviations used in the Tables should be defined. Each Table should
be keyed on a separate page.
Legends: required for each figure and video (see below).
References: should be
arranged sequentially following appearance in the text. References should be cited in the text as numbers in square brackets. Personal
communications, websites and unpublished data should not be included in the list of references, but can be mentioned in the text only.
All authors should be listed (use of 'et al.' is not acceptable). Journals should be indexed in, and their abbreviations conform to,
Index Medicus. Please follow this reference style carefully as the reference list will be hypertext linked to enable the reviewers to
cross-reference on-line.
Presentation examples as follows:
Journals
[1] Solaini L, Bagnioni P, Grandi U. Role of videoendoscopy
in pulmonary surgery: present experience. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 1995;9:65-68.
Books
[2] Cooley DA. Techniques in cardiac
surgery. Philadelphia: Saunders, 1984:167-176.
Multi-author books
[3] Huang GJ, Wu YK. Operative technique for carcinoma
of the esophagus and gastric cardia. In: Huang GJ, Wu YK, editors. Carcinoma of the esophagus and gastric cardia. Berlin: Springer, 1984:313-348.
Authors are encouraged to cite previous key references from EJCTS/ICVTS in order to establish that their studies are well founded.
Figures: All artwork and lettering must be of professional quality. Reproduction of color figures is possible, but the authors
will be asked to pay the extra printing costs (approximately Euro 270 per color page). Figures should be numbered in the order they appear
in the text.
Videos: Where appropriate, video sequences may be submitted using standard digital video formats. Videos must
be relevant and contain only vital/novel information and should ideally run no longer than 30 seconds (see specifications below). One
still image (screen shot) per video must also be submitted. Videos will be displayed in the on-line journal only - the video URL address
will be printed in the hardcopy journal to link to the video in the on-line journal. Videos should be numbered in the order they appear
in the text.
Manuscripts
submitted on-line can be handled much more efficiently generally resulting in a shorter reviewing process. First time users need to register.
Electronic manuscripts should be submitted via:
Please complete the on-line
submission form carefully and upload the following items as specified:
(1) Text (including title page) and Tables (plus
any embedded artwork - optional) combined into ONE word processor file (.doc or .rtf preferred) - upload as Manuscript file.
(2) Artwork for on-line review (creation of optimal PDF): .jpg files preferred (specification: 72 dots per inch/600 pixel screen
width, grayscale for black and white, RGB for color). One file per figure - upload as Image files.
(3) Original artwork
for print (all revised manuscripts only): .tif files obligatory (specification: sized to 8.4 cm column width, resolution:
1000 dots per inch for line art, 300 dots per inch grayscale/combine/color, CMYK for color) - upload as Supplemental files.
This specification enables your artwork to be reproduced with the best possible printing quality. Failure to upload print quality
artwork files with the revision will delay eventual publication. If unable to supply artwork electronically in the required format
(only), post hard-copies (GLOSSY PRINTS) to the address below for scanning.
(4) Video (on-line viewing only): .avi, .mov,
.mpg or .rm files preferred (specification: frame size: 320 x 240 pixels, duration: maximum 30 seconds, number of frames/second: 20-30).
Corresponding still images also required: .jpg preferred (specification: 72 dots per inch) - upload as Supplemental files.
Hard-copy manuscripts
Post/courier to: Prof. L.K. von Segesser, Editor-in-Chief, c/o Editorial Office EJCTS, av. Grand-St.-Bernard
69B (app. 6), CH-1920 Martigny (VS), Switzerland. Tel: (+41)27 7236171; Fax: (+41)27 7236173; E-mail: info@ejcts.ch
One complete copy of the manuscript and three sets of original illustrations - including still image(s) for any video(s) (marked
on the back to indicate the corresponding author's name, the figure number and the top edge) should be submitted together with the electronic
file of the text (and artwork/videos if possible) on disk, zip disk or CD.
Note that the review system is totally electronic
so you must be prepared to register and work on-line to further process your submission - even if you submitted on paper with disk. Also,
processing of hard-copy manuscripts is generally slower than for electronic submission.
Revised manuscripts
Label accordingly
(2nd, 3rd version) including new figures, videos and tables; provide a covering letter, replying point-by-point to the Editor's and referees'
comments, and describing the changes which have been made in the revised version. Highlight the changes in the revised manuscript to
facilitate editorial reassessment.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed
policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier journals to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as
conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
