Instruction for Authors

Article Categories

The Journal of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Research accepts the following categories of articles:

Editorials

Commentaries by the Editor, Associate Editors, and other scientists and experts reflect the periodical and provide general interest to our readers. Editorials are by invitation only. Total manuscript length should be limited to approximately 1,000 words. The maximum number of references is 10.

Commentaries

Commentaries include clearly-presented comments, concerns, and viewpoints that address important and current topics of interest relevant to the journal’s readership. Total manuscript length should be limited to 700 words and be structured as follows: A Title, Text and References. Commentaries may include up to three authors, 6 references, and one figure or table.

Original article

Original full-length research papers can describe original clinical or laboratory research in any area related to cardiovascular science. Full length articles should be organized in the following successive sections and manuscript preparation to be followed: A Title page, a structured Abstract preferably not exceeding 250 words (Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion), Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods (including statistical considerations and ethical statement), Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, Competing interests, Ethical approval, Funding, References, Figure and Table Legends.

Short communication

Short communications are original works presenting findings in any area related to cardiovascular research but less substantial than the regular research article. This type of manuscripts should not contain more than 20 references and organized as full-length articles with maximum 2000 words, including Tables and Figures.

Case Reports

Case reports covering new insights or rare cases regarding clinical situations. They can describe a diagnostic dilemma, a rare or interesting clinical situation, new protocols for treatments, or a newly recognized condition or complication. The length of the manuscript should not exceed 1200 words. The maximum number of authors is six and the maximum number of figures and tables (combined) is 4. The article format is a title, an unstructured Abstract of maximum 150 words, Keywords followed by a brief introduction, a description of the case (case history), Discussion, Conclusion, Competing interests, and Ethical approval. The maximum number of references is 20.

Case Series

The length of the case series should not exceed 2000 words. The maximum number of figures and tables (combined) is 8. The article format is a title, an unstructured Abstract of maximum 150 words, Keywords followed by a brief Introduction, a description of the cases (4-20 cases), Discussion and Conclusion. The maximum number of references is 20.

Review Articles

Narrative, systematic reviews and meta-analyses on clinically relevant researches undertaken in cardiovascular medicine are acceptable. Review articles should be written by authors considered experts on the subject. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis are more welcomed. Review articles must include: an unstructured Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, subheadings in the manuscript as necessary, Discussion, Conclusion, References,  Legend for Tables and Figures. Tables must be cited in the manuscript text with respect to the order of references.

Letter

Letters present informative debate, critical comments, and opinions about recently published articles in JCVTR. Total manuscript length should be limited to 400 words and be structured as follows: A Title, Text and References. Letters may include up to three authors, 6 references, and one figure or table.

Submission of manuscripts

General instructions for submissions

Authors can submit a document via using the link "Submit Your Paper" on the Journal's homepage. All authors should register at http://jcvtr.tbzmed.ac.ir/. JCVTR no longer accepts submissions by mail. The Journal will consider for publication suitable articles on topics pertaining to the broad discipline of cardiovascular disease. Only papers written in English are considered. Manuscripts should be professionally edited before submission. Our goal is to provide the primary reader investigation, scholarly review, and opinion concerning cardiovascular medicine.

Review Process

The editorial team will provide an initial review for adherence to submission instruction and scientific quality within two weeks of submission, and those manuscripts found to be of qualified will be subsequently considered for a full review process performed by highly skilled reviewers. After receiving reviewers' comments, the Editor/s-in-chief make a final decision. Pre- submission inquiries are not required, and authors should submit their manuscripts based on the guidelines listed in the Instructions to Authors. The journal subjects any papers to plagiarism-detection software. At any stage of peer-review, publication, or post-publication, if plagiarism is detected the manuscript may be rejected, corrected, or retracted, as appropriate, and we reserve the right to inform the authors' institutions about any plagiarism detected.

Submission Formatting

Correct preparation of the manuscript by the authors will expedite the reviewing and publication procedures. When preparing the manuscript, please follow the formatting and style instructions below:

• The acceptable word processor file format for the manuscript document is Microsoft word 2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016 (DOCX).
• Write the manuscript in concise American English.
• Set paper size to A4, as some people may still print manuscripts to read.
• Use a suitable font face and size such as Times New Roman 12.
• All pages should be numbered and used double-spacing.
• Use headings as necessary.
• Do not include line numbering (this will be added automatically during conversion to PDF).
• All scientific units should be expressed in SI units.
• Do not use page breaks in your manuscript.

Cover letter

A cover letter is required for every submission. The authors will need to confirm the following conditions in the submission cover letter:

• That the submission is originally submitted solely to this Journal, and not currently under consideration for publication or already published elsewhere.
• That the submitting author takes responsibility for the submission on behalf of all authors as the corresponding author.

• The name, degree, address, and telephone and fax numbers of the author to whom correspondence and proofs should be sent should be included on the title page and the cover letter.

• That all authors have reviewed, approved, and consented to the submission, and they are accountable for all aspects of its accuracy and integrity following ICMJE criteria.

Title page

The title page should contain:

• The title of the article (a concise descriptive title should be chosen for the submission. It must convey the main topics of the study. Do not capitalize all words; only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized. Include the type of the study (meta-analysis, systematic review, cohort, case report, etc.).
• The name of each author (first name and surname preferred)
• The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the authors belong.
• Address of corresponding author and e-mail address
• A running title (a short, abbreviated title of 25 characters or fewer)

Main Text

Abstract

Each article must include a structured abstract of no more than 250 words. Use the following headings for sections of the abstract: Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion. Do not include references in abstract section.

Keywords

Below the abstract, provide and identify 3-5 Keywords for each submission. Keywords should be selected from the list of MESH words and listed in alphabetic order starting with capitalize first letters, lower-case the rest of the word.  They must be separated by semicolons. Please note that during manuscript submission, you will be asked to supply keywords to assist the editors in locating suitable reviewers for your manuscript.

Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. This section contains a concise review of the subject area and the rationale for the study.

Materials and Methods

The methods section should describe in adequate detail the experimental subjects, their essential characteristics, and the methods, and procedures used so that other researchers can reproduce the experiment.

Results

Results should be presented in a logical sequence with reference to tables, figures, and illustrations as appropriate. Tables must be placed in the text where they are first mentioned. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. New and possible findings of the study should be emphasized, as well as any conclusions that can be drawn. The discussion should compare the present data to previous findings. Limitations of the experimental methods should be indicated, as should implications for future research. Recommendations, particularly clinical ones, may be included when appropriate.

Conclusion

The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short Conclusion section.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section.

Competing interests

Conflicts of Interest Statement includes all of the information regarding funding sources for the research and any source of conflict of interest.

Authors' contribution

For transparency, we will request an author statement in the manuscript file outlining their individual contributions to the paper using the relevant roles. Author contributions should be clarified based on the following items: (Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing—Original Draft Preparation, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition). Add authors’ full name in front of each above-mentioned contributor role if applicable.

Ethical Approval

Authors should disclose that informed consent was obtained when applicable, and the manuscripts should also include the notation of approval by the institutional committee on human research. Signed releases should be obtained for photographs of identifiable persons. Submissions to JCVTR should be in accordance with the ethical conduct policy of ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/ ).

In animal studies, authors should indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Randomized clinical trials must include the registration site and the registration number in this section following the Clinical Trial Registration Statement.

Funding

The names of funding organizations and the grant number/s should be written in full. The role of the funding body in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript should be declared.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations and acronyms should be explained at the first time they are used within the abstract and again in the main text and then used throughout the remainder of the manuscript. Please consider adhering to this convention.

Drug Names

Generic names should, in general, be used. If an author so desires, brand names may be inserted in parentheses.

Formulas

• Equations should be typed only in MathType (Download the software from http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/).
• If you have already composed your paper in Microsoft Word and used its built-in equation editing tool, the equations will become unusable during the typesetting process. To resolve this problem, re-key your equations using MathType.
• Graphical objects should not be used.
• Make sure that your equations are editable.
• Long equations should be set off from the text and numbered sequentially. You may refer to the equations in the next references by their number (e.g., "Eq. 1," "Eqs. 2 and 3").
• If using many equations or schemes is unavoidable, they can be collected in a table of equations and be shot as a framed figure to avoid typesetting errors.

Tables

• Should be prepared left to right and cell-based (i.e., created in Word with the Tables tool). And captions should be provided in the end of the manuscript.
• Be editable and presented in a vertical orientation, and upright on the page, not on sideways.
• Be prepared with real rows and columns and not aligned with tabs, returns, or spaces.
• Multi-part tables with varying numbers of columns or multiple footnotes should be organized as separate tables.
• Be plain with NO colors, shading, or graphics.
• Should not contain inserted text boxes, tables within tables or cells within cells.
• Should be cited in numerical order upon their first mention.
• Symbols and abbreviations should be defined immediately below the table, followed by essential brief description

Figures

• All images must be uploaded as separate files.
• They must be cited within the main text in numerical order and legends should be provided in the end of the manuscript and not appear on the figures.
• Figures must be prepared in one of the following formats: Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) for photography or microscopy, Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) or JPEG.
• All digitized images submitted with the manuscript must be of high quality; that is, resolutions of at least 600 dpi for color figures, 600 dpi for grayscales and 1200 dpi for line arts.
• Histograms should be prepared in a simple, two-dimensional format, with no background grid.
• Make sure that any specific patient/hospital details are removed or blacked out (e.g., X-rays, MRI scans, etc).
• If photographs of patients are used, they should not be identifiable. However, do not use a black bar to obscure a patient’s identity.
• Original data from which the images were prepared should be available, as the editors may request to see these data (e.g., Office, SPSS and other line art images).
• Lettering in figures (e.g., labeling of axes) should be in lower-case type, with the first letter capitalized and no full stop. All text should be in a sans-serif typeface, preferably Arial.
• Avoid using the touch-up tools, such as cloning and healing tools in Photoshop, or any feature that deliberately obscures manipulations.
• Graphics downloaded from Web pages should not be used.
• Submit multi-panel figures (with labeled parts as a,b,c,d,..) as one file.
• Please remember that Vector drawing data is absent from these files: png, jpeg, tiff, or bmp. Subsequently resaving any of these files as a PDF or EPS will not produce a vector drawing in these files. Please supply the original EPS, ai, or PDF file versions of artwork.

References

• Arrange references as a simple list at the end of your manuscript based on our Endnote style (Download JCVTR EndNote Style).
• Authors are responsible for the accuracy of cited references, and these should be checked before the manuscript is submitted.
• Do not use linked fields (produced by EndNote and similar programs). Please use the one-click button provided by EndNote to remove EndNote codes before saving your file.
• Only one publication can be listed for each number.
• Published conference abstracts, numbered patents, and preprints on recognized servers may be included in reference lists, but text, grant details, and acknowledgments may not.

Citing in the text

• Cite references in the text sequentially in the Vancouver numbering style, as a superscripted number after the nearest punctuation mark. For example …as reported by Saito and colleagues.¹³
• Two references are cited with a comma and no space. Three or more consecutive references are cited in a range with dashes.
• References in tables, figures, and panels should be in numerical order according to where the item is cited in the text.
• Reference numbers should NOT be cited in parentheses.
• Please note that if references are not cited in order the manuscript may be returned for amendment before it is passed on to the Editor for assessment.
• Only papers published or in press should be included in the reference list. Personal communications or unpublished data must be cited in parentheses in the text with the name(s) of the source(s) and the year. Authors should request permission from the source to cite unpublished data.

In reference list

• List the surnames and initials of first names of all authors if there are 6 or fewer; otherwise, list the first 6 and add ‘et al.’ Use one space only between words up to the year and then no spaces. The journal-title should be in bold and abbreviated according to the style of PubMed. If the journal is not listed in PubMed, then it should be written out in full. Check journal abbreviations using PubMed.

Examples of JCVTR EndNote Style:

• Journal article (1-6 authors)

Ostovan MA, Kamali M, Zolghadrasli A. A case of fatal acute lung injury after balloon valvuloplasty of pulmonary stenosis: case report and review of literature. J Cardiovasc Thorac Res 2015;7(2):778-780. doi: 10.15171/jcvtr.2015.18

• Journal article (more than 6 authors)

Drakou E, Kanakis MA, Papadimitriou L, Iacovidou N, Vrachnis N, Nicolouzos S, et al. Changes in Simple Spirometric Parameters After Lobectomy for Bronchial Carcinoma. J Cardiovasc Thorac Res 2015;7(2):68-71. doi: 10.15171/jcvtr.2015.15

• Book

Reuter T. Sharing the Earth, Dividing the Land: Land and Territory in the Austronesian World. Canberra: Australian National University Press; 2006.

• Book Section

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, eds. The Genetic Basis of Human Cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002:93-113.

• Websites

Outbreak notice: Cholera in Haiti. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/outbreak-notice/haiti-cholera.htm. Updated January 9, 2012. Accessed February 1, 2012.

• Thesis

Weisbaum LD. Human sexuality of children and adolescents: a comprehensive training guide for social work professionals [master's thesis]. Long Beach (CA): California State University; 2005.

• Conference proceedings

Chu H, Rosenthal M. Search engines for the World Wide Web: a comparative study and evaluation methodology. Paper presented at: American Society for Information Science 1996 Annual Conference; October 19 24, 1996; Baltimore, MD. http://www.asis.org/annual-96/electronicproceedings/chu.html. Accessed February 26, 2004