Submissions

Author Guidelines

A - Editorial policies

Objectives and Scope

The journal of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Cirurgia Cárdio-Torácica e Vascular was founded in 1991 and represents an official body of the now renamed Sociedade Portuguesa de Cirurgia Cardíaca Torácica e Vascular (SPCCTV). The main objective of the SPCCTV’s Journal is to publish high quality papers in the areas of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery.

The second objective of the SPCCTV’s Journal is to facilitate and stimulate discussion and information sharing, as much as ethical, economic and social questions related to Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, constituting a forum for divulging progress in all areas related to the three specialties.

The SPCCTV’s journal is published every three months in an electronic version, with the published articles available online. All the papers of the SPCCTV’s Journal are published as Open Access, with no associated processing fees, thanks to the support of the Sociedade Portuguesa de Cirurgia Cardíaca Torácica e Vascular.

The rigor and accuracy of the results published in the SPCCTV’s journal, as much as the opinions expressed, are an exclusive responsibility of the authors.

Editorial Freedom

The SPCCTV’s journal adopts the ICMJE’s definition of editorial freedom, described by the World Association of Medical Editors, which states that the editor-in-chief assumes complete authority over the editorial content of the journal. The Sociedade Portuguesa de Cirurgia Cardíaca Torácica e vascular, as owner of the SPCCTV’s Journal, does not interfere in the process of any manuscript’s evaluation, selection, programming or editing. The journal is an autonomous body of the SPCCTV, and the editor-in-chief and associated editors have complete editorial independence.

General view

The Portuguese Journal of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Surgery is ruled by the norms of biomedical editions developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), available at:  http://www.ICMJE.org, and by the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE).

The editorial policy of the Portuguese Journal of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Surgery integrates the Editorial Policy Statements issued by the Council of Science Editors into the review and publication process, covering the responsibilities and rights of editors of scientific mediated Journals.

 (http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3331).

Guidelines for Study Presentation

Papers should be prepared according to the norms of the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors: Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendation) available at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/

The Portuguese Journal of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Surgery recommends the guidelines for publication of the EQUATOR network (http://www.equator-network.org). Check lists are available for several study designs, including:

• Randomized controlled trials (CONSORT) - http://www.consort-statement.org/
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA and extensions) - http://prisma-statement.org/
• Observational studies (STROBE) - https://www.bmj.com/content/335/7624/806
• Case reports (CARE) - https://www.care-statement.org/
• Qualitative research (COREQ) - http://cdn.elsevier.com/promis_misc/ISSM_COREQ_Checklist.pdf
• Diagnostic/prognostic studies (STARD) - https://www.equator-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/STARD-2015-checklist.pdf
• Economic evaluations (CHEERS) - https://www.equator-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Revised-CHEERS-Checklist-Oct13.pdf
• Pre-clinical animal studies (ARRIVE)–https://arriveguidelines.org/arrive-guidelines
• Guidelines (GRADE) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21185693/
• Clinical protocols (SPIRIT) - https://www.spirit-statement.org/

Acceptance criteria for all papers are investigation quality and originality and its meaning to the Portuguese Journal of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Surgery readers. Except when duly mentioned, all manuscripts are submitted to double blind peer review process by at least two anonymous reviewers. Final acceptance or rejection falls to the Editor-in-chief, who reserves the right to refuse any publication material, after consulting the Associated Editors.

Manuscripts must be written in a clear, concise and direct style, to be understandable to the readers. When the contributions are considered adequate for publication based on the scientific content, Editors reserve the right to modify the text to eliminate ambiguity and repetition, and improve the communication between the author and the reader. If extensive changes are required, the manuscript will be returned to the author for revision.

The manuscripts that do not comply with the instructions to authors will be returned for remaking before being reviewed.

Criteria of Authorship and Authorship Form

As referred in the Requirements ICMJE, authorship requires a substantial contribution to the manuscript. The presentation letter should specify each author’s contribution to the final paper.

Individual author contribution statement

All those designated as authors must meet the four authorship criteria described below, and all those who fulfill all four criteria must be identified as authors. The contributors, who do not fill the four authorship criteria, must be referred in the acknowledgement section, specifying their contribution.

Each manuscript must have a “corresponding author” to whom all questions referring the theoretical content will be addressed. However, all authors must take public responsibility over the content.

Authorship criteria:

• Have a substantial intellectual direct contribution in the design and writing of the paper;
• Participated in data analysis and interpretation
• Participated in manuscript writhing, reviewing, critical revision of the content and approval of the final version.
• Agree to assume responsibility over the accuracy and integrity of the entire process

Besides being responsible for part of the work, an author must be able to identify which coauthors were responsible for specific contributions. Funding, data collection or general supervision of the work group, by itself, does not qualify as authorship.

Group authorship

When a large group of authors produces a paper, this group must decide, in the beginning who will be the listed authors of the manuscript submitted for publication. All group members listed as authors must meet the four authorship criteria – including approval of the final version of the manuscript – and should be able to take public responsibility over the full content done by the other authors. Some groups, especially when numerous, attribute authorship of the study to the group name, listing or not individual names. When submitting a manuscript whose authorship is a group, the corresponding author must specify the name of the group, if it exists, and clearly identify which group members can claim credit and assume responsibility over the paper as authors. When authors publish on behalf of a group, group members must be listed in appendix.

If a medical writer was involved in writhing the manuscript, a signed statement by the corresponding author is necessary, indicating the name and whether there was funding of this person. This information must be added in the acknowledgments section. A signed statement by the medical writer allowing to be mentioned in the acknowledgments section must be provided. 

Changes in authorship

It is expected that the authors carefully consider the list of authors prior to submission. The authors must determine among themselves the order by which they appear and resolve any disagreement before submitting their manuscripts for publication. Changes in authorship (either in order or number of authors) must be discussed and approved by all authors. Any change in number or name of the authors must be accomplished before acceptance by the journal editor. To require the change a communication by the corresponding author must be received mentioning: a) the reason for authorship change, b) written consent by all authors. Only in exceptional conditions, will the editor accept changes in authorship after paper acceptance.

Corresponding Author Role

The corresponding author will act on behalf of all co-authors as the preferred contact for the editorial team during the submission and review process.

The corresponding author on behalf of all co-authors is responsible for communication with the journal during the submission, peer review and publication process. He is also responsible for ensuring all journal administrative requirements (providing authorship details; ethics committee approval; conflict of interest forms; informed consent).

Before and during the submission process, the authors must:

• Submit a cover letter which must justify the interest in publishing the article in PJCTVS; the corresponding author should sign the letter in the name of all authors confirming that all meet authorship criteria; the contribution of each to the work must be specified.
• Confirm that the article is original, that it was only submitted for publication in the PJCTVS and that it has not been published previously.
• Confirm that the work complies with ethical and legal principles (it complied with the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association and was evaluated and approved by the ethics committee, if an original study).
• Confirm that all authors accept responsibility for the validity of the data, that everyone read and had access to all study data, and all are in agreement with the content of the article and its submission to PJCTVS.
• Accept the assignment of copyright and agree to the availability of the manuscript in print or digital.
• Ensure that authors declare potential Conflicts of Interest that could introduce bias or be seen as a bias in the conduct of their work in their article.
• Indicates the sources of funding if appropriate. 
• Confirm that the submission adheres to the requirements outlines in the Author Guidelines

Responsibility for the content

Although editors and reviewers make efforts to ensure the technical and scientific quality of the manuscripts, the final responsibility for the content (namely the accuracy and precision of the observations, as well as the opinions expressed) is the sole responsibility of the authors, who belong to intellectual property of the articles.

Conflicts of Interest

Each of the authors must indicate in their article whether or not there is any type of Conflict of Interest. In this context, authors are required to disclose any financial and personal relationships that exist in relation to the work they submit. They should also identify any benefits that may be associated with the publication of the article, including: shares or financial interests in companies or other institutions, salaries or bonuses, scholarships or other forms of financing, consultancy, patent rights or any other types of financial relationships. Any other personal, professional, political, religious, or any other relationship that readers may consider likely to influence the article being published should also be reported. This information will be kept confidential during the manuscript review and will not influence the editorial decision, but will be published with the article if accepted. The existence of conflicts of interest for the publication of an article is not a reason for its rejection, as long as such conflicts of interest are properly declared. If in doubt about what constitutes a relevant financial or personal interest, authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief.

Consent of Patients

Authors are responsible for obtaining informed consent for each clinical case. In photographs, videos, or medical imaging, the respective patient`s/individual identity must be hidden. Personal data, such as occupation or residence, should be omitted, except when epidemiologically relevant.

Studies in patients or volunteers need ethics committee approval and informed consent from participants. The opinion of the ethics committee (namely regarding the need for informed consent) must be documented in the article. The protocol number approved by the ethics committee must also be mentioned. Authors must also ensure compliance with regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27, 2016.

All animal experiments must comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and must follow the European Union directive EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, and the authors must explicitly state that these recommendations have been followed.

Duplicate Submission and Publication

PJCTVS does not accept material previously published in printed or electronic form, as well as manuscripts under consideration in another magazine. Except for the previously mentioned publications in the form of abstract, academic thesis or conference communication. PJCTVS endorses the ICMJE's policies regarding the duplication of publications.

Plagiarism Policy

Intentional or not, plagiarism is a serious violation. We define plagiarism as reproduction of another work with at least 25% similarity and no citation. If evidence of plagiarism is found before/after acceptance or after publication of the article, the author will be given an opportunity to rebut. If the arguments are not found to be satisfactory, the manuscript will be retracted.

Peer Review

All manuscripts submitted to the PJCTVS undergo peer review. There is a strict double anonymization policy, which means that authors are anonymized to reviewers and vice versa. Reviewers are required to respect the confidentiality of the peer review process and not reveal details of a manuscript or its review during or after the peer review process. If reviewers wish to involve a colleague in the review process, they must first obtain permission from the Editor.

The acceptance criteria for all works are the quality, clarity and originality of the investigation and its meaning for our readers. Manuscripts must be written in a clear, concise, and straightforward style. The manuscript must not have been published, in whole or in part, nor submitted for publication elsewhere.

All submitted manuscripts are initially evaluated by the Editors and may be rejected at this stage, without being sent to reviewers. Final acceptance or rejection rests with the Editor-in-Chief, who reserves the right to refuse any material for publication. The PJCTVS editorial board will send manuscripts to external reviewers selected from a database. Editors reserve the right to return to the corresponding author all manuscripts that do not comply with the instructions to the authors.

Letters to the Editor or Editorials will be evaluated by the Editorial Board, but external reviews may also be requested.

In the evaluation, manuscript reviews will be classified as:

1. A) Accepted without changes
2. B) Accepted, pending on minor revisions
3. C) Reassess after major changes
4. D) Rejected

Within 30 days, the reviewer must respond to the Editors indicating their comments on the reviewed manuscript and the suggestion of acceptance, review or rejection of the work. Within 10 days, the Editorial Board will make a decision that may be: to accept the manuscript without modifications; send the reviewers' comments to the authors as established; rejection.

When changes are proposed, authors have 30 days (a period that can be extended at the authors' request) to submit a new revised version of the manuscript, incorporating the comments of the reviewers and the editorial board. They must answer all questions in a separate document and also submit a revised version of the manuscript, with the amendments inserted with the “Track changes” function enabled.

Editors have 10 days to make the decision on the new version: reject or accept the new version or forward it for further consideration by one or more reviewers.

In case of acceptance, in any of the previous phases, it will be communicated to the Corresponding Author.

In proof review, substantial changes to the manuscript will not be accepted. The inclusion of these changes may motivate the rejection of the manuscript by decision of the Editors. In the typographic proof review phase, fundamental changes to the articles will not be accepted and may imply their subsequent rejection by decision of the Editor-in-Chief.

Although editors and reviewers make every effort to ensure the technical and scientific quality of the manuscripts, the ultimate responsibility for the content (namely the accuracy and precision of the observations, as well as the opinions expressed) rests solely with the authors.

Publication Costs

There will be no publication costs (there are no submission or publication fees for color images).

Typographic proofs

The typographic proofs will be sent to the authors along with the revision deadline according to the publication needs of the PJCTVS. The reviewed article must be approved by the corresponding author. Authors have 48 hours to review the text and report any typographical errors. At this stage, the Authors cannot make any background modifications to the article, other than corrections of typographical and / or spelling errors.

If failure of the Authors to honor the deadline frees the PJCTVS occurs, the PJCTVS Editorial Team may proceed with the revision and editing of the paper while dispensing the Authors´ authorization.

Errata

The magazine PJCTVS publishes changes or amendments to a previously published article, if, after publication, errors or omissions are identified that influence the interpretation of data. Changes after publication will take the form of an errata.

Retractions

Reviewers and Editors assume that authors report work based on honest observations. However, if there are substantial doubts about the honesty or integrity of the work, submitted or published, the editor will inform the authors of their concern, seek clarification from the sponsoring institution of the author and / or the employing institution. Consequently, if they consider the published article to be fraudulent, the magazine PJCTVS will proceed with the retraction. If this method of investigation does not reach a satisfactory conclusion, the editor may choose to conduct his own investigation, and may choose to publish a note of concern about the conduct or integrity of the work.

Sponsorships

Advertising must not jeopardize the journal's scientific independence or influence editorial decisions and must comply with general and specific legislation in the area of ​​health and medicine.

Final note - for a more complete explanation on this subject, we recommend reading the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals by the International Commitee of Medical Journal Editors), available at http: // www. ICMJE.org

B / Instructions to authors

The PJCTVS objective is the publication of original articles in the fields of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Surgery. The manuscripts will be reviewed by the Editors and by external reviewers, and their acceptance will depend on their scientific interest, originality and validity. The official language of the publication is English.

General rules

All articles must be prepared according to the “AMA Manual of Style”, 10th ed. and / or “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals”. The document must be written in English. Words in Latin or in a language other than the text must be placed in italics.

The components of the Title Page are: Title, Authors, Affiliation listing each institution with a number, e-mail of each author, Corresponding author and respective telephone contact. The total word count of the article and the category of publication to which the article is being submitted must be mentioned.

The components of the Manuscript are: Title; Abstract; Keywords (preferably MESH terms); Text; Conflict of Interest; Funding; Acknowledgments (if applicable); References; Legends (Figures and Tables).

No references to the authors should be made in the Manuscript to allow  peer review to be double blinded. The pages of the manuscript should be numbered consecutively. The lines of the manuscript should also be numbered consecutively.

The submission must be done entirely in electronic format. The text file must be submitted in Word format, with numbered pages in the lower right corner, numbered lines on the left, Times New Roman font, size 12, double space and justified. The tables must be submitted in individual files, in Word format, Times New Roman font, size 12, single space, first column aligned to the left and the remaining columns centered. The images must also be submitted in individual files, in .TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF) format, with a minimum definition of 300dpi.

- Numbered page in the lower right corner

- Consecutive numbered lines in the left

- Letter - Times New Roman - size 12

- Double-spaced text, justified

- Title of the different sections should appear in bold and capital letters: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Text (including Introduction, Methods, Discussion, Conclusion), Acknowledgments, Conflict of Interest, Funding, Acknowledgments, References, Legends (of Figures and Tables). 

Submission

Electronic submission of manuscripts must be at pjctvs.com. Only submissions that comply with the rules previously described are considered valid. After submission, the Editors will confirm the receipt of the manuscript with the corresponding author. In articles that are not originated by editorial invitation, the date of submission and the date of acceptance will be presented in the article.