INTRODUCTION

All papers are published in print and online. The official publication date of these papers is the date that they are posted online. Papers published online ahead of print are available on the journal website at https://journals.viamedica.pl/cardiology_journal. Requests for accelerated publication should be explained to the editors in the cover letter.

Journal follows editorial recommendations of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (available at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/).

Via Medica strongly recommends journal editors to adhere to the principles of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), particularly to deal with acts of ethical misconduct. For more information Authors, Readers and Editors may visit the COPE website: http://publicationethics.org/.

EDITORS' CHOICE

Editors' Choice in Cardiology Journal is dedicated to the most valuable and innovative research, comprising methodology and innovations in cardiology, which is of outstanding interest to the readership.

The selection of these articles is based on recommendations from the editors of Cardiology Journal; all manuscripts published in 2016 and forward are eligible to be recommended for Editors' Choice.

ULTRA FAST TRACK

Cardiology Journal offers an UltraFastTrack review (decision within seven days) for manuscripts focused on the following cardiovascular topics:

• Methodological papers.
• First-in-man studies of novel devices.
• Original research on device failure.
• Bioengineering models.
• Innovation and technology in the pipeline.

The authors interested in applying for an UltraFastTrack review must declare it upfront in the submission process of their manuscript and explain their reasons clearly in the letter to the editors.

NEW: EXPEDITED PUBLICATION DECISION

2. Authorship
All collaborators who have made significant and substantial contributions to a study are considered coauthors. The nature and level of contribution of all authors of accepted manuscripts must be indicated, i.e. conception, design, execution and interpretation of the data being published, wrote the paper. An author may list more than one contribution, and more than one author may have contributed to the same aspect of the work. Other contributions to the work, such as providing of reagents or analytic tools, should be listed in the Acknowledgements. Ghostwriting and guest- authorship are forbidden. In case of detecting ghost written manuscripts, their actions will be taking involving both the submitting authors and the participants involved. The corresponding author must have obtained permission from all authors for the submission of each version of the paper and for any change in authorship. Submission of a paper that has not been approved by all authors may result in immediate rejection. Due to release form the responsibilities to the third parties, corresponding author is required to return to the Publisher a singed copy of the ″Author statement″ together with the manuscript (the ″Author statement″ is available at http://www.cardiologyjournal.org). All authors must agree to the conditions of publication, however the final responsibility for this information lay on the author submitting the manuscript. 
3. Conflict of interest
To meet the responsibility to the public to provide clear and unbiased scientific information, all authors must disclose any association that poses a conflict of interest in connection with the manuscript. Authors must indicate any affiliations, funding sources, or financial holdings that might raise questions about possible causes of bias. This information will not be revealed to the reviewers and will not influence the decision concerning the acceptance of the manuscript. After the article is accepted for publication the Editor will discuss with the authors the manner in which the information concerning the financial sources should be provided to the readers. Reviewers and editors are also required to report any conflict of interest in case of recent collaborations with the author (coauthored a paper or worked together on a grant with the author within the past 24 months). Other examples of possible conflicts include a close personal friendship, past or present association as thesis advisor or thesis student, or a family relationship. Additionally, in case of articles presenting drugs or medical equipment, reviewers and editors should disclose to the Editor-in-Chief any financial relations with the corporations manufacturing described drugs and/or equipment. 
4. The article should be free of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism (more information at https://ori.hhs.gov/definition-misconduct).
5. Copyright
Completion of the online submission form electronically is tantamount to automatically and free-of-charge transferring of the copyright for publishing and distribution of the submitted material (in all known now and developed in the future forms and fields of exploitation) to the Publisher, under condition that those materials are accepted for publication. The authors agree not to publish any data or figures presented in their work anywhere and in any language without the prior written consent of the owner of the copyrights, i.e. the Publisher. 
6. Legal relations
Legal relations between the Publisher and the author(s) are in accordance with Polish law and with international conventions binding to Poland. The legal bases to acquiring the copyright are article 921 section copyright law and related law as well as the international conventions binding to Poland. 
7. Human and animal participants and clinical trials.
All research involving ′human and animal participants and clinical trials′ must have the authors institutional review board/local ethical committee approval. Authors are required to include in the Methods section a brief statement identifying the committee approving the experiments. All experiments involving humans must have been conducted according to the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki. Authors are obliged to include a declaration confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants. For animal experimentation reported in the Journal, it is expected that investigators will have observed the Interdisciplinary Principles and Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research, Testing and Education issued by the New York Academy of Sciences Ad Hoc Committee on Animal Research. Adherence to these principles should be indicated in the text of manuscript.

8. Sharing Research Data 

This journal encourages you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project. If you are sharing data, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. 

If you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset thus giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described. There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. 

Via Medica recommends the use of Mendeley Data, which enables you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository. 

9. Disclaimer
Every effort is made by the Publisher and Editorial Board to ensure that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appears in CJ. However, responsibility for the accuracy of statements of fact, the authenticity of scientific findings or observations, expressions of scientific or other opinion and any other material published in the journal rests solely with the author, the respective contributor, sponsor or advertiser. Accordingly, the Publisher and the Editorial Board accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any such inaccurate of misleading data, opinion or statement. Every effort is made to ensure that drug doses and other quantities are presented accurately. Nevertheless, readers are advised that methods and techniques involving drug usage and other treatments described in the Journal should only be followed in conjunction with the drug or treatment manufacturer own documentation as published in the country of the reader. 

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRPITS
Please submit an accompanying cover letter and author statement with every manuscript (please see forms). Manuscripts should be written in simple, concise and grammatical English, within the size limits specified for each type of article, prepared according to the guidelines below. The main text of the manuscript should be written in a standard PC-compatible word processing program (e.g., Microsoft Word) using Times New Roman font size 12, double-spaced throughout and submit as .doc/.docx or .rtf file. The text must be provided unjustified and auto-hyphenation must be inactivated. Greek and other special characters may be used only by inserting in the text as ″Symbol″ (and not by using ″symbol″ font which may be lost during subsequent file processing. It is advised not to underline in the text and avoid footnotes. When essential, footnotes are numbered consecutively and typed at the foot of the appropriate page. All dimensions and measurements must be specified in the metric system. Particular attention needs to be paid to the selection of appropriate analysis of data and the results of statistical test should be incorporated in the results section. Abbreviations, if used, should be defined in brackets on their first appearance in the text (separately in the abstract and in the main text). The abbreviations that are not accepted by the international groups of experts, should be avoided.

Authors who believe their English language manuscript may require editing to eliminate possible errors and to conform to proper scientific English may wish to use the English language editing service available from one of Cardiology Journal experts at attractive pricing (never exceeding USD 15,00 per manuscript page). In case of such interest, please contact our office at editorialoffice@cardiologyjournal.org

The articles should be prepared within the following limits:

*excluding title page, abstract, key words, figures and tables legends and references

**including any supplementary data


ARTICLES SHOULD BE ORGANIZED INTO FOLLOWING SECTIONS

Original Articles: Title page, Abstract and key words, Graphical Abstract (recommended), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, Statement of competing interests, List of abbreviations, References, Figures legend, Figures, Tables legend, Tables. Although the Graphical Abstract is not required, we strongly recommend it in the Original Articles.

Review Articles: Title page, Abstract (unstructured) and key words, Main text divided into subheadings, Acknowledgements, Statement of competing interests, List of abbreviations, References, Central illustration legend, Central illustration, Figures legend, Figures, Tables legend, Tables 

Letters to the Editor: should not be divided into subheadings and should be arranged as in the table above. Letter to the Editor should be a comment on the article previously published in Cardiology Journal. There should be a direct reference to such article in the text of a letter.

Technology Notes (new methods; technology): manuscripts should be arranged as in the table above, however, considerably greater detail of the experimental procedures should be provided than would normally be given for a research article.  

Images in Cardiovascular Medicine: should be arranged as in the table above.

Editorial Comments (invited only): should be arranged as in the table above. The Authors should upload their pictures to accompany the Editorial Comment.

Research Letters: should not be divided into subheadings and should be arranged as in the table above.

Study Protocols: Title page, Keywords, Background, Methods, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Statement of competing interests, List of abbreviations, References, Figure legend, Figure, Table legend, Table

*Case reports should be submitted to Cardiology Journal as Images in Cardiovascular Medicine only.

SECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPT
(1)Title page. The title page should provide manuscript title and running title of no more than 60 characters, excluding spaces; full names of all authors and their institutional addresses; name, full institutional address, telephone, fax and email of the corresponding author; word count of the main part of the manuscript. Manuscripts prepared without an abstract should have keywords placed on title page.

(2) Abstract and key words. The abstract should be comprehensive but concise consisting of no more than 250 words and should be structured into four paragraphs in original articles: Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions. In review articles, it should be undivided. The abstract should be followed by a list of 5-7 carefully chosen keywords, which should be in accordance with MeSH system. Only common abbreviations should be used in the abstract.

(3) Introduction. Introduction should present state of knowledge up-to-date, the aim and the background of the studies and explain how original is the aim. 

(4) Methods. Methods should describe the investigated group, applied methods and the statistical analysis. Experimental procedures should be given in sufficient detail to allow these to be replicated by other researchers. The source of the various materials used in the study should be given, where possible. 

(5) Results. Results should be presented very in a logical fashion, with no need for the reader to solve. One should remember that curves and columns are more readable than tables or results presented in plain text.

(6) Discussion. The obtained results should be discussed in the light of any previous research and available literature. In discussion one should not repeat the results presented in the results section. 

(7) Conclusions. Conclusions should refer to the aims of study and be presented in precise form. 

(8) Acknowledgements. The authors may wish to express their thanks to those who contributed to the work but could not be co-authors of the manuscript. Sources of any support for the work in the form of grants, equipment, or drugs presented in the article should be listed as funding.

(9) Statement of competing interests. Include an detailed disclosure of any competing interests (financial or others) that may have affected the research or the conclusions drawn from the study. If none, state the authors report no competing interests′.

(10) List of abbreviations. Authors should define all non-standard abbreviations on their first appearance in the text as well as provide a list. Standard abbreviations need not to be included in the list.

(11) References. Authors must ensure that all references are cited accurately and those in the main text body are also included in the list of references and vice versa. References should list all the bibliographical sources cited in the text, in the order of their appearance. Citations in the text should be put in square brackets. Standard abbreviations should be used for journal names (according to Index Medicus). All references should be compiled at the end of the paper in the Vancouver style. Journals. List consecutive reference number, list the first 3 authors, then ″et al″. list title, journal title (abbreviated according to Index Medicus), year, volume (Arabic numerals), number, first and last page. Numbered references to personal communication, unpublished data, and manuscripts either ″in preparation″ or ″submitted for publication″ are unacceptable. If essential, such material may be incorporated in the appropriate place in the text. The following is a sample reference: Miller KR, McClave SA, Kiraly LN, et al. A tutorial on enteral access in adult patients in the hospitalized setting. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2014; 38(3): 282–295. Books. List consecutive reference number, last name and initial(s) of the author(s)/editor(s), title, the editor, place and year of publication. Reference to a specific chapter should include: last name and initials of its author(s), chapter title, last name and initials of the book author(s)/editor(s), title, the editor, place and year of publication and pages. Book reference with different author and editor: Rosen MR. Principles of cardiac electrophysiology. In: Kelley WN ed. Internal medicine. J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia 1992: 90-95. Book reference with identical author and editor: Braunwald E. Heart disease. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia 1992: 393-418.  

(12) Figure legend. Figures legend should be comprehensive but concise and should not duplicate information provided in the text of the article. The figure title should be given as the first line of the legend.

(13) Figures and photos. Figures and photos should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals. The authors should submit an electronic version of the figures included as separate files. Every figure and photo should be titled and pointed where it should appear in a main text. Figures should be submitted in following formats: TIF at the standard resolutions (i.e. 300 dpi for photos, 600 dpi for line art), JPG, EPS, CDR, all sized at the final print size. Other figure formats may be supported, but DO NOT USE PDF, PPT, or PS files for either text or figures, as they cannot be used for typesetting purposes. 

(14) Tables legend and Tables. Table title should be given as a first line of the legend.Tables should be prepared with the same skill, thought, and care as the text. They are best prepared in text editor as they will be copyedited in Word and consecutively numbered (Table 1, Table 2, etc.). They should be prepared in potrait orientation. Tables should complement and not repeat information provided in the main text body. Each table should be given on a separate page with a brief title; the table number and title appear above the table text. All table columns must have a heading and any abbreviations should be explained in footnotes. DO NOT embed figures, tables or any other non-textual features in the main text. Figures and tables may be added at the end of the manuscript text or as separate, supplementary files. 

(15) Figure preparation. No specific feature within an image may be modified. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if they are applied to the whole image and if they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original, including backgrounds. The editors may request the original data from the authors for comparison with the prepared figures.

(16) Central illustration. Central illustration is required in the review articles submitted to Cardiology Journal. It should summarize the whole manuscript in a visual way.

(17) Supplementary data. Authors are encouraged to provide supplementary data enhancing their paper, however the print version of the article must stand on its own merits. Supplementary data may take the form of supplemental figures, tables, datasets, derivations, and videos. Each should be submitted as Supplementary files with accopanying decriptive legend placed after the Reference in the manuscript. Supplementary videos should be submitted in .avi, .mov, or .mp4 formats. Files should not exceed more that 6MB and should be in zipped files. No editing will be done to the videos at the editorial office, all changes are responsibility of the author. Supplementary data are reviewed along with the paper and must be approved by the editors and reviewers. The data are posted on the journal website at the time of article publication and referred to in the main text. Upon acceptance supplementary data cannot be altered by authors.

INSTRUCTIONS TO SUBMIT A REVISED MANUSCRIPT
Before you begin submitting your revision, please ensure you have all the revised files ready. Please provide a separate Rebuttal Letter outlining (1) the changes that have been made to the submission in response to the reviewers’ comments (point by point) and (2) any other changes. All changes to the manuscript text should be tracked in the revised manuscript file ('Track Changes' mode if using Microsoft word).

Cardiology Journal is fully Open Access. It means that journal will provide unrestricted access to all articles to readers worldwide. 

Author statement

Cover letter

Article Information and Declarations

These specific elements should be provided in dedicated sections of the submission panel; they are available according to the type of article. Please, do not include these elements in the main text. More information on particular items is provided in the Author Guidelines panel.

Data availability statement

Please, indicate that original contributions presented in the study are included in the article (and as Supplementary Material, if applicable) and that further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Ethics statement

Please, if applicable state that the study was reviewed and approved by an Ethics Committee and that patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. If not applicable, please explain why ethical approval and/or consent were not required.

Author contributions

Please, describe the contribution of all co-authors to the final manuscript.

Funding

Please, highlight any funding that you may have received for the reported research or state that no funding, grants, or other support was received.

Acknowledgments

If applicable, please provide any acknowledgments for the conduct of the study and/or support for manuscript preparation. 

Conflict of interest

Any possible conflicts of interest regarding the submitted article should be described for each author, or authors should declare they have no conflict of interest related to the submitted manuscript.

Supplementary material

If applicable: the supplementary material for this article can be found online at: (link will be provided by an Editor).

Table I. Elements of Article Information and Declarations according to submission type

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Completion of the online submission form electronically is tantamount to automatically and free-of-charge transferring of the copyright for publishing and distribution of the submitted material (in all known now and developed in the future forms and fields of exploitation) to the Publisher, under condition that those materials are accepted for publication. The authors agree not to publish any data or figures presented in their work anywhere and in any language without the prior written consent of the owner of the copyrights, i.e. the Publisher.

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

This journal charges the following author fees.

Article Publication: 1200,00 USD (plus tax)
The Article Publication Fee is required for Original Articles, Review Articles, Study Protocols, Research Letters and Images in Cardiovascular Medicine in the following manner: * 350.00 USD (excluding taxes) in the section Research Letters * 350.00 USD (excluding taxes) in the section Images in Cardiovascular Medicine * 1200.00 USD (excluding taxes) in the sections Original Articles, Review Articles and Study Protocols If such papers are accepted for publication, you will be asked to pay the fee to cover publications costs. The fee will be billed to the corresponding author upon acceptance of the article. Authors will not be charged or colour figures, tables, or multimedia. In case of the manuscript withdrawal after the acceptance for publication, the fee will not be returned. All costs concerning bank transfer are covered by the author. Materials submitted into the following sections remain free of charge: * 0.00 USD in the section Technology Notes * 0.00 USD in the sections Letters / Editorials We do not want fees to prevent publication of worthy work, however Journal has now limited opportunities to waive these fees.