Official journal of the Slovak Society of Cardiology,
Slovak Society of Hypertension and Slovak Association for Cardiac Arrhythmias

Instructions for authors

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1. Scope of the Journal

Cardiology Letters is an international, peer-reviewed, journal which publishes original and review communications on all aspects of Cardiovascular Medicine. It is the official Journal of the Slovak Society of Cardiology, Slovak Society of Hypertension and Slovak Heart Rhythm Association. It is published 6 times a year. It includes articles related both to clinical medicine and experimental cardiovascular research. The journal also serves for education purposes and information exchange about national and international activities in Cardiovascular Medicine. Publication languages are Slovak, Czech and English.

2. Article categories

  • Cardiology Letters publishes these article types:
  • Original Articles Reviews
  • Book Reviews
  • Case Reports/Case Letters Education
  • Commentaries News
  • Editorial
  • Letters to the Editor Replies
  • Guidelines
  • Images in cardiology (typical images from various imaging methods, which are briefly commented on case-study style) Cardiology in images (Original diagrams that show diagnostic and treatment algorithms)
  • Short communication

3. Authorship criteria and conflict of interest

Credit for authorship should be based on: 1. substantial contributions to research design, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data; 2. drafting the paper or revising it critically; 3. approval of the manuscript. Authors should meet all three criteria.

It is recommended to include short description of each authors’ contribution using the following categories:

  • concept/design,
  • data analysis/interpretation,
  • drafting article,
  • critical revision of article,
  • approval of article,
  • statistics,
  • data collection,
  • other.

The corresponding author should take responsibility for communicating with all other authors and getting their approval for the final version to be published.

4. Manuscript Preparation

General Instructions

All manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter. This is a letter addressed to the Editor-in-Chief in which the corresponding author states that the manuscript has not been published until submission, is not being considered for publication elsewhere and will not be submitted elsewhere while under consideration in Cardiology Letters. The cover letter should also state that authors have no conflict of interest, and that all authors have read and approved the manuscript. The manuscript of the review article and the original article should have a range of 2000-5000 words without abstract tables, figures legends and literature. The case report/case letter should be in the range of 500-1500 words without abstract, tables, figure legends and literature. The short communication should be in the range 500-1000 words. The number of tables and figures should be appropriate to the manuscript content and should not be excessive in number. Manuscripts in the categories Images in Cardiology and Cardiology in Images should be limited to 500 words of text (excluding images) and they should not include abstracts and literature.

Each page should be consecutively numbered. Manusripts should be submitted with spacing 1,5.

All abbreviations should be explained at their first use.

Standard SI units of measurement only should be used.

Submission files

The manuscript file should be submitted as single electronic file preferably in MS Word (*.doc) containing a title page, abstract, key words, main text, acknowledgements, references, tables, figures, figure legends all together. In addition, Tables and Figures should be also submitted in separate files.

Title Page

The manuscript title page should include a manuscript title, full name(s), highest academic degree(s), and work affiliation(s) of all authors, and full disclosure of all information regarding financial support (grants) for each author. Include the name, full address, e-mail and phone of the person responsible for correspondence and reprints (corresponding author).

The manuscript title should be clear, descriptive and not exceed 120 characters, including spaces. Abbreviations are not allowed in the title of manuscript.

Structured Abstract

Articles should include an abstract of no more than 250 words which contains all information and results and is not an introduction to the remainder of the manuscript. In original articles the abstract should be organized in separate paragraphs as follows: Aim; Methods; Results; and Conclusions

Key words

Provide a maximum of 6 key words suitable for indexing.

Main text

The main text should be divided into the following sections: 1. Introduction, 2. Methods, 3. Results, 4. Discussion, 5. Conclusions.

Introduction states the current state of knowledge and objectives of the work. Avoid a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Methods provides sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. Information about study ethics is necessary. The authors should state that their study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki, that the locally appointed ethics committee has approved the research protocol and that informed consent has been obtained from the subjects.

Results should be presented precisely, but avoid duplication. Information from the text should not appear in Tables or Figures

Discussion should relate only to the main results and their comparison to previously published studies. Do not include a general review of the topic.

Conclusions must be clear and easy to understand.

Acknowledgements

In this section, individuals should be mentioned who contributed to the work and who do not meet author’s criteria.

Tables

Each Table should be on separated page in the manuscript text and should be also sent as a separate (*.doc) file. Each table should be numbered using Arabic numerals. Tables should have a title above and a legends below. Position of Tables should be indicated in the text.

Figures

Each figure should be on separated page in the manuscript text and should be also submitted as a separate file in .tif, .eps, .png, .jpg, or pdf format with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

Figures must be suitable for high quality reproduction and should be submitted in the desired final printed size. Submit written permission from publisher and author for any figure that has been published previously. Source of the previously published images should be added. All images must be de-identified – remove from the image all personal information that could be used to identify the patient from which an image was obtained.

Photographs should be in JPG or TIFF formats with a minimum file size of 1 MB, and 300 dpi. Please ensure that the photographs are of high quality with respect to detail, contrast, and low noise. Cardiology Letters does not charge for colours figures. Position of Figures should be indicated in the text.

Cardiology Letters encourages authors to use graphical abstract (optionally). The most representative Figure should be designated by authors for this purpose.

Figure legends

These should be on a separate manuscript sheet. Define all symbols and abbreviations used in the figure. Common abbreviations and others already explained in the preceding text should not be redefined in the legend.

References

References should be identified in the text by Arabic numerals and numbered in the order cited. All references should be compiled at the end of the article. If there are six or more authors, then use the first six followed by ‘et al.’ Titles of journals should be abbreviated in accordance with Medline. Maximal number of references is 50.

Personal communications, manuscripts in preparation, and other unpublished data should not be cited.

Article citation example

Schroeder S, Baumbach A, Mahrholdt H, Haase K.K, Oberhoff M, Herdeg C, et al. The impact of untreated coronary dissections on the acute and long-term outcome after intravascular ultrasound guided PTCA. Eur Heart J 2000;21:137-145.

Book chapter citation example

Nichols WW, O’Rourke MF. Aging, high blood pressure and disease in humans. In: Arnold E, ed. McDonald’s Blood Flow in Arteries: Theoretical, Experimental and Clinical Principles. 3rd ed. London/Melbourne/Auckland: Lea and Febiger; 1990:398-420.

Webpage citation example

Panteghini M. Recommendations on use of biochemical markers in acute coronary syndrome: IFCC proposals. eJIFCC 14. http://www.ifcc.org/ejifcc/vol14no2/1402062003014n.htm (28 May 2004)

Proofs

After manuscript acceptance one set of proofs will be sent by e-mail to the Corresponding Author. Only grammatical and typographical errors may be corrected; no changes in the content of the edited manuscript are possible. Proof must be returned within 2 days; late return may cause a delay in publication.

Editorial Office and manuscript charges

Manuscript should be submitted online: /submit.php

Editorial Office address:

Editorial Office, Cardiology Letters,

Bárdošova 2/A,

831 01 Bratislava 37,

Slovakia,

Phone: +421-2-5479 1210.

Cardiology Letters is an Open Access Journal and has no publication charges