The Official Journal of The Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons, and The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Editor in Chief
Professor Richmond Jeremy
Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney
Cardiologist, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

Journal correspondence: Heart, Lung and Circulation Editorial Office
Level 6, The Medical Foundation Building, 92-94 Parramatta Road, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia
Ph +61 (0)2 9036 3373
Fax +61 (0)2 9036 3343
E-mail: deborahe@med.usyd.edu.au

Founding Editor
Professor Franklin L. Rosenfeldt
Head Cardiac Surgical Research Unit
Alfred Hospital and Baker Institute, Melbourne
Phone: 61 (0)3 9276 3684
Fax: 61 (0)3 9276 2317

Editorial Staff:
Editorial Manager
Deborah Edward
Phone : 61 (0)2 9036 3373
Email : deborahe@med.usyd.edu.au
Guide to Authors


Heart, Lung and Circulation publishes articles integrating clinical and research activities in the fields of basic cardiovascular science, clinical cardiology and cardiac surgery, with a focus on emerging issues in cardiovascular disease. The Journal particularly invites submissions concerned with the issues of cardiovascular ageing, indigenous cardiovascular health, devices, and tissue repair and replacement. The Journal promotes multidisciplinary dialogue between cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardio-pulmonary physicians and cardiovascular scientists and allied health professionals with an interest in cardiovascular diseases.

The Journal accepts original articles, current reviews, brief communications, Clinical Spotlight papers (case reports) and letters to the Editor.

Submission of Manuscripts
Articles submitted for review must be original works and may not be submitted for review elsewhere whilst under review for the Journal.

All manuscripts, correspondence and editorial material for publication should be submitted online via the Elsevier Editorial System at http://www.ees.elsevier.com/hlc. Authors simply need to 'create a new account' (ie, register) by following the instructions at the website, using their own email address and selected password. Authors can then submit manuscripts containing text, tables, and images (figures) online. The entire peer-review process will then be managed electronically to ensure timely review and publication. Authors can expect an initial decision on their submission within six weeks.

Following Registration, enter the 'Author area' and follow the instructions for submitting 'Entry data' and a complete manuscript, including the cover letter abstract, and, where required, tables and figures. Under 'Entry data', indicate the number of authors in the box, justifying more than seven authors. Unless indicated, colour images will be reproduced in black and white for the hard copy edition of the Journal. Colour illustrations for hard copy incur a colour charge of

USD312 for the first page and USD208 for every additional page containing colour. There is no charge for online colour images. If you wish your colour figures to be reproduced as hard copy, and agree to pay the 'colour charge', check the appropriate box. Otherwise, do not submit your figures in colour. You should also note that some colour images do not reproduce well in black and white.

Every submission, regardless of category, must include:

Cover letter, stating the category of article (Original Articles, Clinical Spotlight, Brief Communication, Images, or Letters to the Editor) and the section to which they wish to submit (Cardiac Surgery; Cardiology; Cardiovascular Basic Science).

Conflict of Interest: When the proposed publication concerns any commercial product, either directly or indirectly, the author must include in the cover letter a statement (1) indicating that he or she has no financial or other interest in the product or distributor of the product or (2) explaining the nature of any relationship between himself or herself and the manufacturer or distributor of the product. Other kinds of associations, such as consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements, must also be disclosed. If, in the Editor's judgement, the information disclosed represents a potential conflict of interest, it may be made available to reviewers and may be published at the Editor's discretion; authors will be informed of the decision before publication.

Sources of outside support for research, including funding, equipment, and drugs, must be named in the cover letter.

Complete manuscript: This includes title page, abstract, text, tables, acknowledgments, required disclosures (see below), references and illustrations. The financial support for the project must be acknowledged, or 'no external financial support' declared. The ethical guidelines that have been followed must be stated clearly. The role(s) of the funding organisation, if any, in the collection of data, its analysis and interpretation, and in the right to approve or disapprove publication of the finished manuscript must be described in the Methods section of the text.

Note that the online manuscript submission program requires separate entries of some information that also appears in the manuscript. These separate entries are needed to manage processing and reviewing your manuscript and correspondence. In addition, the following must be submitted in Hard Copy direct to the Editorial Office if applicable:

Permission from the publisher (copyright holder) to reproduce any previously published table(s), illustration(s) or photograph(s) in both print and electronic media.

Permission from unmasked patients appearing in photographs.

Preparation of Manuscript
Microsoft Word is the preferred software program. Manuscripts written in 11 point Arial or Times New Roman fonts are preferred and more reliably convert to PDF files during electronic submission.

Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced throughout (including title page, abstract, text, references, tables, and legends) with one (1) inch (2.5 cm) margins all around.

Arrange manuscript as follows: (1) title page, (2) abstract and keywords if required, (3) text, (4) acknowledgments, (5) disclosures if required, (6) references, (7) tables (each complete with title and footnotes) (8) Figures and (9) figure legends. Number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page as page 1 and ending with the legend page.

Word Limits by Category of Manuscript• Original articles: Maximum 4500 words including title page, abstract, text, figure legends and references.
• Brief Communications: Maximum 1000 words, plus two tables or figures
• Clinical Spotlight: Maximum 1500 words including title page, abstract, text, references and figure legends. A Clinical Spotlight must involve one or more of the following features to be accepted - it is a description of an original or new proceedure or technology, a common problem with a rare or interesting complication, a difficult differential diagnosis, or a difficult management problem involving new therapies, with an emphasis on new technologies.• Images: One or two photographs and brief descriptions
• Review articles Limit to 6500 words including title page, abstract, text, figure legends and all references. The total number of references should not exceed 80. Subtract 100 words for each illustration and 300 words for each table.
• Correspondence (Letters to the Editor), commentaries and updates Limit to 500 words. Subtract 100 words for each illustration and 300 words for each table.
• Editorials are limited to 2500 words including references. Subtract 100 words for each illustration and 300 words for each table.

Sections of the Manuscript (Items in order from top to bottom)
• Title Page (first page) should contain
A. Title: Short and informative.
B. Running Head: Short title of 30 characters and spaces.
C. Authors: List all authors by first name, all initials, family name and highest academic degree using 'MD, PhD' for holders of both degrees. Do not include initial degrees (eg BSc).
D. Institution and Affiliations: List the name and full address of all institutions where the work was done. List departmental affiliations of each author affiliated with that institution after each institutional address. Connect authors to departments using numbered superscripts.
E. Corresponding Author: Provide the name, exact postal address with zip or postal code, telephone number, fax number and email address of the author to whom communications, proofs, and requests for reprints should be sent.
• Abstract and Keywords Purpose, procedures, findings and principle conclusions must be covered in under 200 words. Avoid abbreviations and acronyms. For Original Articles, the Abstract should be divided into Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions. No abstract is required for Images, Correspondence, Commentaries, Editorials and Reviews. Provide up to six Keywords, at least five of which should be selected from those recommended by the Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/meshhome.html
• Main Body Text Text should be organised as follows: Introduction (purpose of study and brief review of background) Material (or Patients) and Methods (described in detail) Results (concisely reported in tables and figures, with brief text descriptions) Discussion (clear and concise interpretation of results). Conclusion (brief summation of study)
• Acknowledgments This is compulsory. Grants, financial support and technical or other assistance are acknowledged at the end of the text before the references. All financial support for the project must be acknowledged. If there has been no financial assistance with the project, this must be clearly stated.
• References Consecutive numbers in square brackets should be used to indicate references in the text, e.g., [1,2], as part of the text and not raised above it. The full reference should be cited in a numbered list essentially according to the Vancouver Uniform Requirements (see 5th ed., Ann Intern Med 1997;126(1):36-47).
Endnotes should be placed at the end of the manuscript following the Acknowledgements.
Journal References should contain names of all authors in small letters (surnames followed by initials), Title of communication in lower case lettering, Title of Journal [abbreviated according to International Serials Data System-List of Serial title Word Abbreviations, 1985 (ISDS-ISO International Centre, 20 rue Bachaumont, 75002 Paris, France)], year of publication; volume number: first and last page number. For communications which have been accepted for publication, but not yet printed, the reference must contain the journal name and year.
1. Ordljin TM, Shainoff JR, Lawrence SO, and Simpson-Haidaris PJ. Thrombin cleavage enhances exposure of heparin binding domain in the N-terminus of the fibrin beta chain. Blood 1996;88:2050-61.
2. Copley AL. The endoendothelial fibrin lining. Thromb Res 1983;(SV):1-154.
Book References should contain Author Name(s) in the same format as above: Title. Publisher's location: Name; Year of publication. page range.
Davies JT, Rideal EK. Interfacial Phenomena. New York-London: Academic Press; 1961. p. 110-30.
References to multi-author books with editor(s) should contain Author Name(s) in the same format as above: Title of contribution. In: Name(s) of editor(s). Title of book. Publisher's location: Name; Year of publication. If necessary page range (see below).
Blomback B. Fibrinogen to fibrin transformation. In: Seegers WH, editor. Blood Clotting Enzymology. New York-London: Academic Press; 1967. p. 143-215.
Material referred to by the phrase 'personal communication' or 'submitted for publication' are not considered full references and should only be placed in parentheses at the appropriate place in the text, e.g., (Hessel 1997 personal communication).
Internet address
Health Care Financing Administration. 1996 statistics at a glance. Available at: http://www.hcfa.gov/stats/stathili.htmhttp://www.hcfa.gov/stats/stathili.htm. Accessed December 2, 1996.
• Tables Tables should be typewritten double-spaced on separate sheets (one to each page). Do not use vertical lines. Each table should be numbered (Arabic) and have a title above. Legends and explanatory notes should be placed below the table. Abbreviations used in the table follow the legend in alphabetic order. Lower case letter superscripts beginning with 'a' and following in alphabetic order are used for notations of within-group and between-group statistical probabilities. Tables should be self-explanatory, and the data should not be duplicated in the text or illustrations. Tables must be submitted as part of the text file and not as illustrations.
• Figures and Illustrations Images or figures are submitted online as one or more separate files that may contain one or more images. Within each file containing images, use the figure number (eg, Figure 1A) as the image filename.
Symbols, letters, numbers and contrasting fills must be distinct, easily distinguished and clearly legible when the illustration is reduced in size.
Written permission from unmasked patients appearing in photographs must be obtained by the authors and must be surface mailed or faxed to the editorial office once the manuscript is submitted online.
• Figure Legends Figure legends should be numbered (Arabic) and typed double-spaced in order of appearance beginning on a separate sheet. Identify (in alphabetic order) all abbreviations appearing in the illustrations at the end of each legend. Give the type of stain and magnification power for all photomicrographs. All abbreviations used on a figure and in its legend should be defined in the legend. Cite the source of previously published (print or electronic) material in the legend. Note that written permission has been obtained for the use of any previously published material.
• Formatting Language: The Journal uses Australian English. International Science Editing, Asia Science Editing and SPI Publisher Services provide language and copyediting services to authors who want to publish in scientific, technical and medical peer-reviewed journals and need assistance with language and style editing before they submit their article for peer review or before it is accepted for publication. To find out more about these services, please visit: International Science Editing (opens a new window) Asia Science Editing (opens a new window) SPI Publisher Services (opens a new window) For more information about language editing services, please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or advertised on this website. For more information please refer to our Terms and Conditions.
Figures and Illustrations: In general, an acceptable image must be at least 3.5 inches (8.75cm) across when printed at 300 dots per inch (dpi): for a square image of 3.5?3.5 inches, this means the image will contain more than 1,000,000 pixels. Computer screens display images at 72,96 dpi, creating a false impression of printable size. The printable size is only one-third to one-quarter of the apparent size on screen. If the image is small to begin with, it cannot be turned into a high resolution image: it is not effective to 'blow up' an image using image editing software to increase the size.
• Do not use JPEG compression to reduce image size. JPEG images must be saved at their maximum size as JPEG compression reduces image quality. ZIP compression is acceptable.
• Preferred image file formats are EPS, TIFF, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop. Powerpoint (.ppt) files are also accepted, but you must use a separate Powerpoint image file for each Powerpoint figure.
If providing graphs in Microsoft Excel format, it is important to provide the data table from which the graph was generated.
• Unsatisfactory images in accepted submissions will be returned to the author for amendment.
In Figures and Illustrations black, white and widely crosshatched bars are preferable; do not use stippling, grey fill or thin lines.
Statistics: For group data where appropriate error bars should always be shown. For non parametric data quartile ranges should be shown. Colour images might not reproduce effectively in black and white. It is best to print your image in black and white before submission to satisfy yourself that the image is of the quality you require.
References, Illustrations and Tables: Cite in numeric order by order of mention in the text.
Abbreviations: Define abbreviations for descriptive terms at first appearance in the text (eg Atrial Fibrillation (AF). Periods of time should be abbreviated as 's' (seconds) and 'h' (hours).
Measurements and weights should be given in standard metric units.
Numbers: Numbers should be written in words up to 10 and numerals thereafter, except when writing formulae, fractions and decimals.
Regulatory Requirements
• Research Protocol
Authors must state that the protocol has been approved by the appropriate Ethics Committee (state which).
• Human Investigation All work should conform to the 'Statement on Human Experimentation' by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, or the equivalent in other countries. The ethical guidelines that were followed by the investigators must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript. State clearly that the subject gave informed consent. Anonymity should be preserved.
• Humane Animal Care The Methods section must contain a statement assuring that all animals received humane care in accordance with the 'Statement on Animal Experimentation' by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, or its equivalent in other Countries (for example the 'Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals' published by the National Institutes of Health).
• Copyright Papers accepted for publication become the copyright of the Australasian Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons and The Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and authors will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright form, on receipt of the accepted manuscript by Elsevier. This enables the Publisher to administer Copyright on behalf of the Authors and the Society, whilst allowing the continued use of the material by the Author for Scholarly communication.

Supplementary Files
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research. Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data are provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. Video files: please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your supplementary information. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork instruction pages at http://www.elsevier.com/ artworkinstructions.