Instructions for Authors
Also see: Editorial Board | Copyright Agreement | Editorial Guidelines | Disclaimers and Conditions
General Information
The Heart Surgery Forum® is seeking original investigative and clinical work on any subject germane to the science or practice of modern cardiac care. The HSF publishes original scientific reports, collective reviews, case reports, editorials, and letters to the editor as well as Learning Center presentations for the non-medical public. New manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Board for originality, content, relevancy and adherence to scientific principles. The HSF features a streamlined submission and peer review process with an anticipated completion time of 30 to 60 days from the date of receipt of the original manuscript. Authors are encouraged to submit full color images and video that will be included in the web and CD-ROM version of the journal at no charge.
If you are interested in contributing, please review the sections below that describe the procedures for composition, citations, references and submission. Potential authors are requested to carefully review the entire Disclaimers and Conditions section of the journal (which can also be found online here).
Authors will be forwarded (by email) any questions or comments generated during peer review. A prompt response to these questions is necessary to ensure timely publication. Pertinent comments by the Editorial Board along with the authors responses may be printed in the Review and Commentary section of the final publication.
When revisions to the manuscript are requested by the Editorial Board, the authors must make the necessary changes before publication. Those changes will be reviewed by the Board to determine if the authors have sufficiently addressed their concerns. Manuscripts deemed to be inadequately revised will be rejected. The Editor-in-Chief has the final say as to publication.
Publication of your submission is conditional upon receiving a completed Author Agreement and Copyright Transfer Statement which transfers to Forum Multimedia Publishing, L.L.C., a subsidiary of Carden Jennings Publishing Co., Ltd. the exclusive rights to print and distribute the author(s) work in all media forms. A template of the Copyright Transfer agreement can be printed directly from the HSF web site by following this URL.
The Author Agreement and Copyright Transfer Statement must be signed by all authors and mailed or faxed to the HSF editorial offices at the address below. Failure to provide a signed copy of either the Copyright Transfer or Disclsoure Statement will delay publication of the manuscript.
All disk files, video, and documents should be mailed to the Managing Editor at the address below. Please include the title of your paper and first author's name in all correspondence to:
Jenny DeGraff
Production Editor
The Heart Surgery Forum
375 Greenbrier Drive
Suite #100
Charlottesville, VA 22901
Fax: (434) 817-2020
All articles published in The Heart Surgery Forum® will be indexed in the National Library of Medicine's Index Medicus and the MEDLINE database, as well as Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch), ISI Alerting Services, Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, and EMBASE.
Articles, case reports, editorials, and correspondence accepted for publication will be published first online (www.hsforum.com). The Editor-in-Chief and/or the Editorial Review Board will make the final decision as to which ones will also be published in print and on CD-ROM.
Articles published will also be indexed in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index, ISI Alerting Services, SciSearch, and EMBASE.
Rapid Submission Process
The Heart Surgery Forum® requests that all new submissions be forwarded in electronic format. Paper or printed submissions will be slower to process and will delay the timing of peer review and final publication. The easiest method for submission is to send the entire manuscript as an attachment of an email message sent to: Jenny DeGraff . Authors who do not have email may save the word processing file in Microsoft Word. A 3.5 inch disk with the appropriate file should be sent to the Managing Editor at the address above.
All manuscripts should be divided into the following key sections, separated only by a blank line:
1. Title
2. Authors (listed as First, Middle, Last Name) by order of contribution to the paper
3. Institutions (listed in order of priority)
4. Abstract (with Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusion sections)
5. Introduction
6. Materials and Methods
7. Results
8. Discussion
9. References (in alphabetical order of authors last names)
10. Figure Legends
11. Tables
12. Key words and Abbreviations
13. Reprint address, phone, fax, and email address
Case reports may substitute a section called "Case Report" for the Materials/Methods and Results sections listed above. The format for Editorials and Collective Reviews is open and unstructured.
Word Limits
Original articles should not exceed 4,000 words, including title, abstract, text, figure legends, and references. The combined total of illustrations and tables should not exceed 7 and the number of references should not exceed 25.
Case reports and "how to do it" articles are limited to a total of 1,600 words including title, abstract, text, figure legends, and references.
Editorials are limited to 500 words including any references.
Correspondence, such as Letters to the Editor and Invited Reviews, are limited to 1,600 words including references.
Exceptions to the word and figure limits will be made where the Editor-in-Chief deems it appropriate.
The official language is English. Non-English manuscripts will be returned to the author. To facilitate easy submission, several common steps should be avoided when submitting to the HSF:
1. Do not double space.
2. Do not separate sections onto individual pages. Only place a blank line or two between sections.
3. Do not indent paragraphs, just separate them by a blank line.
4. DO NOT CAPITALIZE in an attempt to create emphasis.
5. Avoid fancy fonts, sizes, special kerning or leading in the text.
6. Avoid superscripts or subscripts, and include any such information within square brackets.
7. Do not attempt to make your document "photo-ready" or create any special formating, pagination or page layout. All this will be reformatted for the Web and your special layouts will be discarded.
Formatting Your Reference List
References should be compiled in alphabetical order starting with the last name of the primary author. Individual references should be constructed in the following order: 1) authors; 2) title; 3) journal; 4) volume; 5) issue; 6) page numbers; and 7) date or year. For example:
1. Barbero-Marcial M, Tanamati C, Jatene MB, Atik E, Jatene AD. Transxyphoid approach without median sternotomy for repair of atrial septal defects. Ann Thorac Surg 65:771-4, 1998.
Authors should be listed by last name followed by their first and middle initials. All subsequent authors are separated by a coma. After three authors, you may annotate the remaining authors with the abbreviation et al. Only the first letter of each sentence in the title should be capitalized.
Articles previously published in The Heart Surgery Forum® have a unique indentification number beginning with the year of publication. References pointing to prior HSF articles should include the pound symbol (#) and the article identification number after the journal name. For example:
2. Calafiore AM, Di Giammarco G, Teodori G, Mazzei V, Vitolla G. Recent advances in multivessel coronary grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass. Heart Surg Forum #1998-33589 1(1):20-5, 1998.
Citing Prior Publications
When citing articles from other authors, a citation in the manuscript text should include the author's last name and year of publication surrounded by square brackets. Multiple citations are separated by commas in ascending chronological order as in: [Emerson 1991, Jatene 1993]. If the same author has multiple publications within the same year, you should place a separate alphabetical suffix after the year to indicate which reference is being cited, as in: [Jatene 1993a, Jatene 1993b]. Please make sure the reference section includes all articles cited within the manuscript. If not, the HSF staff reserves the right to delete the citation or delay publication of the manuscript until the references are corrected.
Figures, Photographs, and Artwork
Figures, photographs, and any artwork can be submitted on a Zip disk or a CD-ROM. When preparing images for submissions, it is important that the authors save the images at 300 dots per inch (dpi) or greater. If less than 300 dpi, images can only be used in the CD-ROM and web component of the HSF journal. These files can be saved as TIFF, JPEG, or as Power Point files.
Since the HSF publishes images in color (on the web and CD-ROM), authors are encouraged to take color photographs of their surgical cases or techniques. The patient's name must not appear on any submitted photo, x-ray, or angiogram.
Authors wanting to send glossy prints or artwork may do so. The back of each image or figure should be labeled with a piece of tape or stick-on label which includes: 1) the lead authors name; 2) the figure number; and 3) an arrow pointing to the top of the figure. Only one copy of each figure is needed. Unless a special exception is made, all color images will be included on the enclosed CD-ROM disk. Scanning and digitization will be performed by the HSF staff with a minimal charge to the author.
Color images can be included in the printed journal at the request of the author. The cost of printing in color is $663.00 (U.S) per image.
Tables
Tables should be submitted electronically, either as an email attachment or on a disk. A print out of the table should be provided in order to ensure faithful representation of data.
Surgical and Diagnostic Videos
The Heart Surgery Forum® encourages authors to supplement the value of their manuscript with selected videos. To include a video with your paper, please send a copy of the edited but NOT COMPRESSED miniDV (VHS, Super VHS, or 8 mm tape can be used) to the Managing Editor as described above. In order to ensure the highest quality, it is extremely important that NO compression be done. The tape should be clearly labeled with the lead author≠s name, phone, fax and the article title
Title, wording, or captions superimposed on the video images are not allowed. Any explanatory text related to the video should be forwarded as a separate document. The HSF will annotate these comments and create voice-over for the video segments without expense to the authors.
Due to space limitations on the CD-ROM disk, not every manuscript will be given space for video imagery. The final decision on which video segments will be published resides with the Editor-in-Chief.
All video segments will be edited, digitized, compressed and compiled before publishing onto the CD-ROM. The HSF will not be responsible for any loss in color, contrast, clarity or motion artifact which occurs during video processing.
Authors' Photographs
The lead author is requested to send a color glossy portrait style photograph of him/herself along with the manuscript. This photograph is used in the masthead of the manuscript and serves to identify the author in a more personal manner to the readership. Casual photographs are not acceptable. Please use a business appearance suitable for a scientific publication.
The front cover contains space for photographs of surgical scenes and interesting case material. The Editors select one interesting photograph per issue to be included on the front cover. Authors are encouraged to submit a vertically oriented picture of an interesting surgical scene with their paper. This photograph should show the surgeon in action, or include key parts of a novel procedure. Uniqueness and impact are the main criteria for selection of front cover photographs.
Copyright Transfer Agreement
In order to publish the original work of another person(s), The Heart Surgery Forum® must receive an Author Agreement and Copyright Transfer Statement transferring to Forum Multimedia Publishing, L.L.C., a subsidiary of Carden Jennings Publishing Co., Ltd. the exclusive rights to print and distribute the author(s) work in all media forms. A template is available from any issue of the printed journal, the Managing Editor, or can be printed from the following Web page.
Failure to provide a signed Copyright Transfer agreement by all authors will delay publication of the manuscript.
Page Charges
Page charges for manuscripts are $75 per page. HSF will submit a statement for payment of the charges to the author.
Business Address
All submissions, figures, tables, videos, and written documents are to be sent directly to the Managing Editor of The Heart Surgery Forum® at the following address:
Jenny DeGraff
Production Editor
The Heart Surgery Forum
375 Greenbrier Drive
Suite #100
Charlottesville, VA 22901 USA
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