Journal Policies
Radcliffe's journals endeavour to publish unbiased content. All articles must be of an impartial nature.
All submissions are subject to independent, double-blind peer review and are copyedited prior to publication. The Editors-in-Chief, with the support of handling editors, oversee the peer review process and the Editors-in-Chief make the final decision on each submission's suitability for publication.
For further information on each of our journals, see below:
Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology Review (AER)
European Cardiology Review (ECR)
Interventional Cardiology: Reviews, Research, Resources (ICR³)
Journal of Asian Pacific Society Review (JAPSC)
US Cardiology Review (USC)
For any editorial queries, please email the editorial contact for the relevant journal: ola.wisniewska@radcliffe-group.com for AER, CFR, ECR, ICR3 and JAPSC and liam.mcknight@radcliffe-group.com for USC.
Radcliffe’s journals aim to support the continuous medical education of specialist and general cardiologists. We publish balanced and comprehensive articles written by leading authorities, addressing the most pertinent developments in their field. Our authors benefit from:
Open research
All research published in our portfolio of journals is open access which means the version of record is freely accessible to everyone across the globe immediately upon publication. As an author you retain all non-commercial rights for articles published under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial CC-BY-NC 4.0 license, allowing users to read, download, copy, redistribute and make derivative works for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work is cited correctly.
Quality
We are committed to the highest standards of peer review. Our journals all follow a rigorous double-blind peer-review process that is conducted independently and treated confidentially. All articles and the peer review comments received are evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief before they make their decision.
Speed
On average, articles submitted to our journals receive their first decision within 5 weeks of submission, ensuring rapid progression while maintaining high quality, rigorous peer review.
Visibility
In order to maximise the reach and impact of your research, we are committed to ensuring every article we publish is promoted as widely as possible. Along with open access, which supports increased readership and citations with no barriers to access, our marketing team with search engine optimisation (SEO) expertise will ensure your research is visible to the widest possible audience, including marketing through our social and email channels to our global community of 280,000+ registered recipients.
Society Partnerships
We regularly collaborate with some of the leading societies and associations within the cardiology community across our initiatives and activities. Within our journal portfolio we have the following official journal partnerships:
Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology Review: British Heart Rhythm Society (BHRS).
Cardiac Failure Review: Italian Heart Failure Association (ITAHFA).
European Cardiology Review: International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy (ISCP).
Interventional Cardiology: Reviews, Research, Resources: British Cardiovascular Intervention Society.
Journal of Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology: Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology (published by Radcliffe Cardiology on behalf of the society)
US Cardiology Review: CardioNerds.
Indexing
In addition to being available through our journal websites, your research will also be available through other major full-text repositories, with journals indexed in the following repositories:
Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology Review: 2024 Journal Impact Factor: 2.6. PubMed, PubMed Central, Crossref, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, ProQuest and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Cardiac Failure Review: 2024 Journal Impact Factor: 4.2. PubMed, PubMed Central, Crossref, Scopus and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
European Cardiology Review: 2024 Journal Impact Factor: 3.2. PubMed, PubMed Central, Crossref, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Interventional Cardiology Review3: PubMed, PubMed Central, Crossref, Scopus, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
US Cardiology Review: PubMed Central, Scopus and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
If you are interested in submitting an article, please visit the relevant journal’s Submission Guidelines page for more information:
Authorship Criteria
All authors are automatically contacted at submission to ensure they are aware of and approve the submission of the manuscript, its content and authorship.
All authors that meet the conditions for authorship as indicated below (based on the ICMJE criteria) should be listed and are accountable for the content should it be published. Authors must meet all four of the following conditions to qualify for authorship:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
- Final approval of the version to be published; and
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Those meeting the above criteria are eligible to participate in preparing and drafting the final manuscript. Those not meeting the above criteria should be acknowledged as a contributor in the acknowledgements section rather than as an author. The Publisher is not held responsible for identifying authors on the manuscript. This information must be supplied at submission.
The corresponding author will be responsible for key communication with the Publisher.
Author Contributions
For original research submissions, the contributions of all authors must be described using the CRediT Taxonomy to describe the individual contributions. We expect that all authors will have reviewed and agreed to their contributions prior to submission and that they will accurately reflect their work.
We follow the ethical guidelines produced by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) where applicable.
Conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest exists when an opinion may be influenced or biased by a secondary interest such as financial gain. Conflicts of interest may occur from commercial or financial interests, such as research funding, consultancy services, serving on speakers’ bureaus, travel expenses, appearance fees, the receipt of share options or direct employment by a commercial entity; or personal relationships, such as mentorships, rivalries or beliefs.
Our publications make it clear where any conflicts of interest occur and inform readers when research has been funded. A disclosure statement appears on every manuscript published within our journals. The purpose of this statement is to provide readers with information about authors’ other interests that could influence how they receive and understand the work. All sources of support for the work where a conflict exists will be publicised.
All authors must declare any conflicts of interest at the point of submission and should also declare if there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest before conducting a peer review of a manuscript. Reviewers should decline to review if a potential conflict of interest is present.
Editorial staff employed by Radcliffe Group, Editors-in-Chief, Guest Editors and Editorial Board members will not handle manuscripts where a potential conflict of interest or competing interest exists and will be excluded from the peer-review process.
Editorial Board members and Guest Editors may submit to journals with which they are associated. Articles authored by Editorial Board members will undergo the same standard of peer review and will be handled avoiding any potential conflicts of interest. Where an author is an Editorial Board member or Guest Editor, this must be declared at the point of submission.
It is a mandatory requirement that all authors complete an ICMJE disclosure form. This must be uploaded as an additional file alongside the manuscript submission.
Informed consent
Authors must ensure that manuscripts involving human subjects have written informed consent from the individual(s) involved and must ensure they provide consent to be involved in/aware of the planned publication as soon as possible. "Consent" refers to the consent to publish an individual's personal information. You should make sure that the original copy of informed consent is held by the treating institution should any queries be raised in the future.
Informed consent must be given voluntarily, with free will and under no coercion and bribery of any kind. Authors should include a statement in the manuscript that written informed consent was obtained if experimentation/transplantation with human subjects was conducted. This applies even if the participant is deceased.
The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed and steps should be taken to anonymise information that can identify a patient. Examples of identifying information include individual case histories, photos, X-rays or genetic phenotypes.
For more information please read the Nuremberg Code and the Belmont Report.
Ethical approval
If the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described has been carried out following the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for research involving humans or the EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments and/or ARRIVE guidelines for animal research.
Misconduct
We take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where misconduct has occurred.
Our journals use similarity checking software to avoid plagiarism. Where duplication is highlighted, the concerns will be raised with the author.
We do not permit the manipulation of research data through data falsification or data fabrication. Where data falsification or fabrication is suspected, the concerns will be raised with the author.
We reserve the right to reverse decisions to accept a submission where we believe our editorial policies have been infringed and papers suspected of misconduct will not be considered for publication. We reserve the right to inform the author’s co-authors, institution and/or regulatory body when such instances occur.
Radcliffe is committed to an open science landscape, removing barriers from the sharing of research and the underlying data. This facilitates openness, transparency and reproducibility of research. All Radcliffe journals are open access, and we encourage our authors to share their research data. Research data refers to the information gathered, reviewed, analysed, generated or created and can be presented in a variety of formats including numerical, descriptive, aural, or visual. We encourage Radcliffe authors to:
- share your research data in a relevant public data repository, where this does not violate the protection of human subjects or other valid subject privacy concerns.
- include a data availability statement (DAS) that links to your data. Where the data cannot be shared, you should confirm why it is not possible to share the data within this statement.
- cite the data in your research.
A recent study has found that citations can be increased by up to 25% for articles that share their data in a repository (Colavizza 2020). As our journals operate under a double-blind peer-review process, if sharing your data, you will need to use a repository that includes an option to preserve your anonymity.
Authors are encouraged to share their data but not required to. The decision to publish will not be affected by whether the authors share their research data.
We advise authors to speak to your institutional librarian, funder or colleagues for guidance on choosing a repository that is relevant to your discipline. Alternatively, some useful resources for searching for a suitable repository are FAIRsharing and re3data.org, which provide a list of certified data repositories. Some general repositories that are not subject-specific include:
- Dryad Digital Repository
- Figshare
- Harvard Dataverse
- Mendeley
- DataOpen Science Framework
- Zenodo
- Code Ocean (with code)
Radcliffe supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles, as such all publicly available datasets must be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI) using the following format and in line with the Radcliffe reference style:
[dataset] Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), accession number/DOI
The [dataset] tag will help us identify and tag the correct citation, but this will be removed prior to publication.
We protect an individual's data and will not publish any patient data that might identify an individual without their written consent.
We operate a double-blind peer-review process through the Editorial Manager platform.
On submission, items submitted to the journal are assessed by the Editor-in-Chief on their suitability for inclusion. Items that fail a technical check are returned to the author at this stage for rectifying and are resubmitted. Manuscripts rejected at this stage are either insufficiently original, scientifically/statistically flawed, poor grammar/English language or deemed unsuitable/more suitable for another journal/outside the journal aims and scope.
The Review Editor, following consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, Section Editors and/or a member of the Editorial Board, sends the manuscript for peer review. All peer reviews are conducted independently, treated confidentially and are double-blinded. We require a minimum of two independent peer reviews but will seek a third review where there are conflicting reports. Original research manuscripts will always require an additional review from a Statistical Editor.
The peer reviewers are selected on the basis of their expertise in the article subject matter and have no conflicts of interest. Reviewers should decline to review if a potential conflict of interest is present. Peer reviewers are not part of the editorial staff and operate independently from the article. Editorial staff employed by Radcliffe Group, Editors-in-Chief, Guest Editors and Editorial Board members will not handle manuscripts where a potential conflict of interest or competing interest exists and will be excluded from the peer-review process.
Editorial Board members and Guest Editors may submit to the Journal and must declare this. Their status has no bearing on the editorial considerations given during the peer review process. Articles authored by any in-house Editorial Board members will be treated with the same rigorous peer-review rules and handled avoiding any potential conflicts of interest.
The peer-review feedback is used to critically assess the quality of the article, to assess its suitability for inclusion in the journal and to ensure its credibility of scientific information.
Following review, manuscripts are either accepted without modification, returned for further revision, in which case the manuscripts are returned to the author(s) to incorporate required changes, or rejected outright. Not all articles that are revised are subsequently accepted. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to accept or reject any proposed amendments. The Editors will not consider papers previously rejected by the journal.
Once the authors have revised a manuscript in accordance with the reviewers’ comments, the manuscript is returned to the reviewers to ensure the revised version meets their quality expectations. Once approved, the manuscript is sent to the Editor-in-Chief for final approval prior to publication. We aim to complete the peer review process with the average time from submission to the first decision within 5 weeks and submission to a final decision within 9 weeks.
It is our aim to ensure authors are notified of any rejection or retraction as soon as possible. An Editor-in-Chief can reject an article at any time before publication, including after acceptance if there are concerns over the work. In the event that a journal is no longer published, access to all articles will be available via alternative platforms, such as PubMed Central, ESCI or Scopus.
If a figure or table has been previously published, please ensure the original source is acknowledged in the legend and written permission from the copyright holder is obtained.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for all copyrighted material, and articles cannot be published until all necessary permission is obtained.
Original material that is the authors' own and has not been published elsewhere does not require permission.
We believe that lack of experience in writing academic English should not be a barrier to publishing high-quality scientific research.
We strongly encourage authors who do not have confidence in academic English to have their manuscripts edited by a proficient English writer before submitting your article. Authors may choose to use a professional language-editing service before submitting to the journal. This is optional and does not guarantee that the submission will be accepted, as final decisions are based on peer review. It may help to ensure that your manuscript is clear to reviewers and journal editors so that they might focus on the merits of your work, and may help to improve aspects such as language, grammar, punctuation and clarity.
Radcliffe partners with Enago, a leading provider of these services. Radcliffe authors will have free access to an AI tool called Trinka which will check your manuscript for free at no cost and provide you with a summary of suggested improvements. Radcliffe authors will need to create an account with Enago to use this free service. Authors choosing to use the editing service will receive a discounted rate via the Radcliffe Enago page. The site is available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
Radcliffe does not take responsibility for the service and there are alternative services available:
All accepted manuscripts will be subject to editorial revisions for clarity, punctuation, syntax and conformity to house style.
Laid-out proofs will be sent to the corresponding author. Articles are considered final once an author approves the corrected proofs. Only minor changes can be made at the proofing stage; major changes will not be accepted.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for all copyrighted material, including tables, figures and images. Evidence will need to be provided for all permissions granted. Permission should be obtained prior to submission, where possible.
As Radcliffe is an STM Signatory Publisher, permission to reproduce content published by other STM Signatory Publishers can often be obtained free of charge. Most journal pages will feature a link for obtaining permission through Copyright Clearance Center, which should be the first port of call for obtaining a license to reuse content.
Under no circumstances may articles be published prior to all relevant permissions being cleared; it is the authors’ responsibility to assist with this process as far as possible.
Articles published in our Journals are gold open access, which means the version of record is freely available, immediately upon publication, without charge, and allows users to read, download, copy, redistribute and make derivative works for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work is cited correctly.
The author retains all non-commercial rights and Radcliffe Medical Media retains all commercial rights (unless otherwise stated) for articles published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
After your manuscript is accepted the corresponding author will be asked to sign a mandatory publishing agreement to grant us permission to publish the manuscript under these terms.
We also offer the option of publication under the CC-BY 4.0 license for an article publication charge of £2800 | €3270 | $3535 to UK Research Councils (UKRI) and The Wellcome Trust funded authors. Funded authors who wish to use this option to comply with funder mandates must indicate this upon submission by selecting the correct option in the submission system.
Radcliffe Medical Media retain all rights (unless otherwise stated) for articles that are not published under a creative commons open-access license (pre-2019). Permission to reproduce such an article or any of its contents for commercial purposes, either in full or in part, should be sought from the publication's Managing Editor.
To support open access publication costs, Radcliffe Cardiology charges an Article Publication Charge (APC) to authors as follows:
Article type | AER, CFR, ECR, ICR3 | USC | JAPSC |
Review article Original research | £2400 | €2800 | $3030 | No fee (until 31 Dec 2024) | £1500 | €1750 | $1894 |
Case report Expert opinion Systematic review | £1800 | €2100 | $2273 | £1125 | €1313 | $1421 | |
Short communication | £750 | €875 | $949 | ||
Editorial Letter to editor | No fee |
Submissions from the UK will be subject to VAT. A VAT registration number should be supplied if applicable. If you are not registered for VAT, your invoice will still have VAT added.
Waivers are available for authors from lower-income countries, journal Editorial Boards, and under certain society partnership agreements. Please see individual journal pages for further information:
We strive to ensure the academic integrity of our journals and to ensure that all content is correct. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the information and cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use thereof. Occasionally circumstances may arise where a published article must later be corrected or retracted. We commit to correcting or retracting any inaccuracies or misleading statements with due prominence through errata which are issued as needed. Any errors should be reported to the journal’s Managing Editor. In all cases, our archives at The British Library and the Agency for Legal Deposit Libraries retain all versions.
Any complaints should be first directed to the Managing Editor of the journal in writing. If they are the subject of the complaint, please raise this with the Publisher. We as the Publisher will aim to deal with any complaints or allegations of misconduct as appropriately and as swiftly as possible. If not resolved satisfactorily, any complaints can be passed to the overseeing body or ombudsmen where one exists. Complaints may be referred to COPE within six months if it cannot be resolved through the journal's complaints procedure and only if it pertains to procedural complaints rather than editorial content.
Advertising is not permitted to influence editorial decisions. Advertisements cannot be carried by the journal that juxtapose editorial content on the same product, and never appear within article text. Misleading advertisements may be refused.
Reprints of all published articles are available to authors, institutions and commercial organisations. Reprints are published as they appear in the journal unless a correction is to be added. Please contact info@radcliffe-group.com for author reprints or ReprintsWarehouse@springernature.com for commercial reprints.