(Circulation. 2000;101:e1.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Circulation Electronic Pages |
Toward the Further Contributions of Circulation
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Introduction |
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 Top Introduction |
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We are pleased to announce that Circulation will remain in its present Editorial office in Houston, Texas until June 30, 2004. The Scientific Publishing Committee of the American Heart Association has made this decision, and we are pleased to continue to be the stewards of Circulation. We renew our pledge to maintain a balanced journal, one that communicates the best of the research advances in clinical cardiovascular medicine and in basic science relating to the elucidation of mechanisms responsible for human cardiovascular diseases. We are also committed to rapid review, timely decisions, and the rapid presentation of these research advances. Our commitment to find better ways to communicate important cardiovascular research advances led to our determination to publish Circulation on a weekly basis, which we have now done for 22 months. Toward the goal of further enhancing Circulation’s ability to publish some of the very best work in cardiovascular medicine, we now announce additional alterations in our publication policy.
- We shall accept manuscripts for review on a Rapid Track for
Publication for the most important clinical research trials and for
carefully selected major clinical and basic science discoveries related
to cardiovascular medicine. In this category, we shall
review manuscripts within 2 weeks and publish them Online within 1 to 2
weeks of their acceptance for publication. Those manuscripts
accepted for publication will be published in the print journal within
4 to 5 weeks. This Rapid Track is intended to extend the Brief Rapid
Communication capability to major clinical trials and major clinical
and basic research advances. The overall length of the Rapid Track
manuscripts will be the same as for regular manuscripts submitted to
Circulation, ie, 5000 words or less. We shall continue to
receive manuscripts in the Brief Rapid Communication category, where
manuscripts are reduced in length and also reviewed and published
rapidly.
- We have increased the number of Associate
Editors (AEs) for Circulation to further enhance our ability
to review and communicate decisions rapidly. The additional AEs also
strengthen our scientific depth in several areas of
cardiovascular medicine. The new AEs are Mario Verani,
MD; Blase Carabello, MD; José López, MD; A.J. Marian,
MD; Dianna Milewicz, MD, PhD; Hasan Garan, MD; and Mark Majesky, PhD.
The addition of these physicians/scientists and researchers will
enhance our ability to review and communicate timely decisions.
- Effective now, all Letters to the Editor, Book Reviews,
Clinicopathological Conferences, and News will be presented
Online Only. We shall endeavor to publish Letters to the Editor Online
Only as rapidly as possible following their acceptance.
- We shall continue our policy of rapid in-house review of all
manuscripts submitted to Circulation. Previously, we
returned manuscripts to authors with only the Editors’ review within a
few days or weeks of their receipt when we determined that a manuscript
would not receive the priority needed for publication in
Circulation. However, we have recently begun a policy of
returning manuscripts to authors without review within 1 to 2 days of
their receipt when we determine they will not receive the priority
needed for publication in Circulation. We anticipate this
will avoid unnecessary delay for the author in submitting the
manuscript to another journal.
- We are making modifications to the Editorial Board to be
effective January 1, 2000. Appointment to the Editorial Board of
Circulation is an honor, but it carries very specific
responsibilities. We expect that members of the Editorial Board will
review manuscripts sent to them on a timely basis and communicate their
opinions to our Editorial office promptly. It is not acceptable for
Editorial Board members to indicate that they are unavailable to review
manuscripts on a recurrent basis other than those special times when
they are truly overwhelmed by other commitments. However, this must be
relatively infrequent.
- In the future, we wish to receive manuscripts from authors,
reviews from referees, and to communicate decisions on manuscripts by
electronic medium whenever possible. When it is not possible, we shall
use fax as we have previously done. We are presently in the process
of examining and evaluating software that will give us the capability
to receive manuscripts electronically and have them reviewed on a
secure Website via the Internet. The details of the process are being
discussed by the American Heart Association and Lippincott Williams
& Wilkins, and more information for authors and reviewers will be
forthcoming.
- We shall celebrate Circulation’s 50th Anniversary
beginning January 2000 by providing a monthly review of
Circulation’s contributions to each of the important areas
of cardiovascular medicine in the past 50 years.
It is a privilege for the current Editors to be responsible for Circulation for an extended time. We are strongly committed to the presentation of important work. We are equally committed to rapid review, timely decisions, and prompt publication of the work that is selected, both in the electronic and printed media. We are dependent on reviewers agreeing to evaluate manuscripts, providing timely reviews, and communicating decisions. Working together with our readership, it should be possible to help Circulation move to an even higher level of contribution in the future.
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Footnotes |
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Previously published in Circulation. 1999;100:1896.
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