American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease (AJCD, ISSN 2160-200X) is an open access online journal dedicated to publication of original work in all areas of cardiovascular research. AJCD is primarily devoted to original research papers (Main Research Articles and Brief Communications), and will also publish traditional Review articles and limited number of important Case Reports. The goal of AJCD is to provide a forum for rapid dissemination of novel discoveries in basic and clinical studies on all aspects of cardiovascular disease.
SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT (Click to submit manuscript online)
General Policy
All manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission. The authors should keep a copy of manuscript submitted in case of revision, rejection, loss or damage. Receipt of manuscript will be acknowledged and a decision regarding acceptance made as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts may be subject to editorial revision without notice.
Peer Review Policy
All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence. The authors should provide up to five potential peer reviewers with detailed contact information including e-mail address. These should be experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. If not provided, potential reviewers will be identified by their publication record or recommended by the Editorial Board members. Recommended reviewers who have been a coauthor with the corresponding author within five years prior to manuscript submission will not be used. Reviewers recommended by authors will be only considered to use when other appropriate ones cannot be found.
ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE POLICY
Authors’ responsibilities
To ensure that submitted manuscripts have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration for publication by another journal.
To ensure all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission.
To ensure that all data in the submitted manuscript are authentic. Maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript and to provide this data upon reasonable request.
To inform the editor of any other submitted manuscripts that might contain overlapping or closely related content.
To obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources.
To confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original, and to acknowledge and cite any content reproduced from other sources.
To ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws and requirements (e.g. WMA Declaration of Helsinki, the Guidelines of Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Human Subject Protections, NIH Policy on Use of Laboratory Animals, or equivalent). For studies involving human subjects, authors should obtain express permission from subjects and respect their privacy. Confirmation that approval has been sought and obtained should be included in the manuscript where applicable. Experiments involving animals should follow the appropriate institution or the National Research Council Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Declare any potential conflicts of interest that could be perceived as exerting an undue influence on his or her duties at any stage during the publication process.
To notify promptly the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is identified, and to cooperate with the editor and publisher to provide retractions or corrections if necessary.
Keep a copy of the manuscript submitted in case of revision, rejection, loss or damage. Receipt of manuscripts will be acknowledged and a decision regarding acceptance made as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts may be subject to editorial revision without notice.
Authors should provide 4 potential peer reviewers with detailed contact information including e-mail address. Authors may also nominate 2 peers that they request are not sent the article for peer review for conflicts of interest or other appropriate reasons – in such instances some reasonable justification must be given. These should be experts in their field of study, who will be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. If not provided, potential reviewers will be identified by their publication record or recommended by the Editorial Board members. All manuscripts are subject to peer review and are expected to meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence.
Reviewers’ responsibilities
To ensure that accepted manuscripts meet the rigorous standards of academic excellence.
To review submitted manuscripts objectively, and in a timely manner.
To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author, and to not retain or copy the manuscript in any manner.
To alert the editor of any published or previously submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review.
To point out any relevant published work that is not yet cited.
To be aware of any potential conflicts of interest between the reviewer and author/research funders(financial, institutional, collaborative or otherwise). To alert the editor to any potential conflicts of interest and if necessary, withdrawing their services for that manuscript.
Editors’ responsibilities
To act in a balanced, fair and objective way while carrying out duties without discrimination based on sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, gender, ethnic or geographical background of the authors. Editors have complete responsibility and authority to accept and/or reject manuscripts.
Ensure that there is no conflict of interest with respect to manuscripts they reject/accept.
To ensure that all manuscripts, including submissions for sponsored supplements or special issues are handled in the same way as other submissions, so that articles are considered and accepted solely on their academic merit without any commercial influence.
To preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
To adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of any complaints, ethical or otherwise, in accordance with the policies and procedures of COPE (www.publicationethics.org). To give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was approved, and documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.
To promote the publication of corrections and/or retractions when errors are found.
Publisher Responsibilities
To ensure that all articles published meet the standards and requirements outlined above.
To ensure that any corrections, retractions, and/or clarifications are published when necessary.
To maintain the integrity of the academic record, and preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards.
Identification of Unethical Behavior
Misconduct and/or unethical behavior may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at any time, by anyone.
Whoever informs the editor or publisher of misconduct should gather sufficient evidence and information in order for an investigation to be initiated. Evidence should be gathered in a discreet manner, in order to avoid spreading allegations beyond those who absolutely need to know, in order to protect the confidentiality of the parties in question until a conclusion has been reached.
All allegations will be taken seriously and handled in the same manner.
The editor will take initial action, with additional input from the publisher where appropriate.
In every case, authors will be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.
Misconduct and Possible Outcomes
Minor breaches of conduct might be dealt with internally, without the need for any outside consultation;
Depending on the severity of the infraction, other outcomes may include, but are not limited to the following:
Informing the author or reviewer of the infraction, and educating him/her on how to avoid future breaches of conduct;
A written warning regarding the breach of conduct;
Publication of a formal notice and/or editorial detailing the misconduct;
A formal letter to the author’s department head and/or funding agency;
Retraction of the publication from the journal, and informing both the Abstracting & Indexing services as well as the readership of the publication of the infraction;
Suspension of the author’s eligibility for publication;
Reporting the breach of conduct to a higher authority for further investigation and action.
Copyright Policy
By submitting a manuscript to any of e-Century Publishing Corporation journal, all authors agree that all copyrights of all materials included in the submitted manuscript will be exclusively transferred to the publisher, e-Century Publishing Corporation once the manuscript is accepted.
Once the paper is published, the copyright will be released by the publisher under the “Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License”, enabling the unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction of the published article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited. If the manuscript contains a figure or table reproduced from a book or another journal article, the authors should obtain permission from the copyright holder before submitting the manuscript, and be fully responsible for any legal and/or financial consequences if such permissions are not obtained.
All PDF, XML and html files for all articles published in this journal are the property of the publisher, e-Century Publishing Corporation (www.e-Century.org). Authors and readers are granted the right to freely use these files for all academic purposes. In addition, the author has the right to reuse any materials in his/her own paper for any purpose without getting the permission from the publisher provided that the original work is properly cited.By publishing paper in this journal, the authors grant the permanent right to the publisher to use any articles published in this journal without any restriction including, but not limited to academic and/or commercial purposes.
If you are interested in using PDF, html, XML files or any art works published in this journal for any commercial purposes, please contact the publisher at business@e-century.org.
Use of Human Tissue and/or Animal Policy
Experiments involving human subjects should be in accord with the ethical standards established by the institution or in accord with the Helsinki Declaration, or the guidelines of Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) Human Subject Protections. For studies involved human subjects, when informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the manuscript.
Experiments involving animals should follow the institution or the National Research Council guide for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Units and Abbreviations
System International (SI) units should be used for all measurements. All abbreviations should be explicitly defined at their first occurrence except for those internationally acceptable. Abbreviations used in the genetic association reports will need to follow the conventions detailed in the specific information requirements for genetic association reports. Any articles that involve the description of enzymes will require the inclusion of the appropriate EC (Enzyme Commission) number as recommended by the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB).
Disclaimer
While the advice and information in the article are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors nor the editors can accept any legal responsibilities for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publication makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the materials contained within.
PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPT (Click to submit manuscript)
All manuscripts should be written in standard grammatical English using computer software (Arial normal font, size 12, with single spacing between lines) and should be saved as single DOC (Word) file. Main Research Articles and Brief Communications will follow a similar format as outlined below while Review Articles will follow a variation on this (see below).
Main Research Articles are defined as being a substantial novel research study discussing the investigation of a clear hypothesis or research question with appropriate methodologies (the use of more than one approach is encouraged) and adequately powered studies and sample sizes. Noting the relevant sections (see below) there is no word limit on manuscripts of this type except for the Abstract which should be a single unreferenced paragraph and no more than 350 words. There are no limits on the number of display items (tables and/or figures) although authors should try to be concise and only include the most pertinent information. There are no supplementary tables or figures and every effort should be made to include these in the main manuscript or alternatively reference should be made in the appropriate locations of the manuscripts that such information will be available on request from the corresponding authors. There is no limit on the number of references.
Brief Communications are a format that accommodates the reporting of high quality completed smaller scale studies yet with important findings. This format is not for the reporting of preliminary or incomplete findings and the review process is equally rigorous as that for Main Articles. The sections of a Brief Communication follow those of Main Articles (see below) and there should not be additional sub-headings within these sections.
Review articles have a flexible format, are not of restricted length or reference number. Submissions of reviews must follow that of Main Research Articles (see below) with the exception that appropriate headings be included for the main text of the manuscript.
Layout requirements for submissions of Main Research Articles or Brief Communications:
1. cover letter
2. title page
3. abstract and keywords
4. main text
5. acknowledgements, if any
6. Disclosure of conflicts of interest, if any
7. References
8. tables, if any
9. figure legends, if any
10. figures, if any
Cover Letter
The cover letter should include name, degree, address, telephone, fax and email of the corresponding author. A statement that all authors have contributed to, read and approved the final manuscript for submission should be included if there are multiple authors. Any editorial or financial conflict of interest (e.g., consultancy, stock ownership, equity interests, patent or licensing agreements) should be clearly disclosed in the cover letter. The disclosure statement must be submitted upon the acceptance. The cover letter should also be used to provide up the relevant details of 4 potential reviewers and 2 non-reviewers for your manuscript giving appropriate explanations for the latter. Finally, if this submission is following the solicitation or invitation of an Editorial Board member please state by whom.
Title Page
1. a concise title;
2. first name, middle initial, and last name of each author;
3. name of the department and institutional affiliation of each author.
4. the email address of each author.(*)
5. a running title.
(*) AJCD will only use the email address of the designated corresponding author in the final published manuscript but will use all email addresses supplied to copy in all authors as additional email respondents to the correspondences we routinely send to acknowledge receipt of manuscripts, and final decisions made on submitted manuscripts. AJCD would also like, unless otherwise directed in the manuscript covering letter, to use these contact details to announce the contents lists of future issues of AJCD and its sister journals! At no stage will AJCD sell such email lists to parties external to the e-Century Publishing Corporation.
Abstract and Keywords
Abstract should not exceed 350 words that concisely summarize the study’s purpose, significant findings and conclusions. Include up to 10 key words or phrases at the end of the abstract.
Main Text
The main text should include Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. The Introduction should be succinct, clearly stating the purpose and rationale of the study. In Materials and Methods, the procedures should be described in sufficient detail to allow duplication by an independent observer. Results and Discussion should be divided. They should be written concisely and logically with emphasis on novel findings and minimal repetition of text. For genetic association reports refer to specific information requirements.
Acknowledgements
All acknowledgements (if any) should be included at the end of the main text before references and may include grant and administrative support.
References (Please download EndNote X Style or Reference Manager Output Style for AJCD)
Reference published in AJCD should begin on a new page, be single-spaced and numbered in order of citation in the text, including citations in tables and figure legends. Complete author citation is required (use of "et al" is not acceptable). References should conform to the style of the Journal. Examples follow:
Journals: [1] Yin M, Hu Z, Tan D, Ajani JA, Wei Q. Molecular epidemiology of genetic susceptibility to gastric cancer: focus on single nucleotide polymorphisms in gastric carcinogenesis. Am J Transl Res 2009;1:44-54.
Books: Fishman AP: Pulmonary Hypertension and Cor Pulmonale. Pulmonary Diseases and Disorders. Edited by Fishman AP. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1988, pp. 999-1048
Web sites: Cite in text only using the appropriate URL. It is the author’s responsibility at the time of submission and subsequent publication that the website address is relevant and functional.
In press: To be used only for papers accepted for publication. Cite as for journal with (in press) in place of volume and page numbers.
Personal Communications: to be used very sparingly and in the context of no more than one sentence of associated text.
Submitted papers/unpublished data: Cite in text only.
Tables
All tables should be created with Microsoft Word Table Tool, single spacing between rows and cited consecutively in the main text by Arabic numbers (Table 1, Table 2, etc). Include each table with a descriptive title on a separate page after the references. Provide explanations for any nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes to the table.
All tables should be included in the Word File as the part of the complete manuscript after bibliography. Tables in image or other formats are not acceptable. Authors are encouraged to split extremely large tables into multiple smaller ones to facilitate publication and easiness to readers.
Figure Legends
Figure legends including figure number, a short title and detailed description should be embedded at the end of text file.
Figures
All figures should be cited consecutively in the main text by Arabic numbers (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc). All figures must be in TIFF, inserted at the end of the Word file of the manuscript and labeled with the corresponding numbers. The text is all figures must be in Arial font. Photographs of a person should render them unidentifiable or include their written permission. Any figures involving Copyright issues should conform to the Copyright policy.
Publication Fees
American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease is an open access journal which provides instant, worldwide and barrier-free access to the full-text of all published articles. Publication charges allow the publisher to make the published material available for free to all interested online readers.
The open access publishing fee is $1180 per article. This will be billed to the corresponding author. There is no extra charge for color figures. Authors who do not have appropriate funds from developing countries can apply to have reduced fee by submitting a letter signed by the departmental chair to state such a fact.
Manuscript Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted online. Please visit Checking List and then click to submit your manuscript.