Publication Guidelines ABC Imagem Cardiovascular

WHY PUBLISHING IN ABC IMAGEM CARDIOVASCULAR?

The Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia Imagem Cardiovascular (In English: Brazilian Archives of Cardiology Cardiovascular Imaging, nick name: ABC Imagem Cardiovascular, in English: ABC Cardiovascular Imaging) is an online and continuous publication, with issues released quarterly. The publication serves as the official dissemination organ of the Cardiovascular Imaging Department of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology;
The publication is freely accessible to readers, and no publication fees are charged to authors;
Mission: The journal aims to publish high-quality scientific and clinical material from all areas of cardiovascular imaging, including echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and nuclear imaging. The following types of articles are considered for publication: original research article, systematic analysis and meta-analysis, cardiovascular imaging, case report, reviews, viewpoint, brief communication, editorial, mini-editorial, letter to the editor, and special article;
It is believed that images are fundamental for demonstrating and reinforcing classic findings or new discoveries, as they provide information about the mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases, highlight abnormalities, and showcase the potential of non-invasive imaging methods in Cardiology. For this reason, ABC Imagem Cardiovascular encourages the submission of relevant articles in the categories of cardiovascular imaging and case reports, as they are essential in the consolidation of knowledge;
It is indexed in Lilacs (Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences) and DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), in both English and Portuguese;
The English and Portuguese versions are made available for FREE (open access), in their entirety, on the Brazilian Society of Cardiology’s website (https://www.abcimaging.org/), remaining accessible to the international community;
Authors are not subject to article submission and evaluation fees;
ABC Imagem Cardiovascular is advocate of Open Science and accepts articles available on Preprint platforms;
The journal adopts the model of continuous, quarterly (4 issues per year), which accelerates the process of disseminating research and thus contributes to its availability for reading and citation;
ABC Imagem Cardiovascular utilizes the CC-BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), meaning that the copyright belongs exclusively to the authors, with the first publication being the exclusive prerogative of the journal;
The journal is in line with the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), recommending the application of the SAGER Guidelines.

OPEN SCIENCE

The term open science refers to a scientific practice model that is in line with the digital evolution that proposes the availability of information in web environments, as opposed to laboratory-confined research.¹

The practice of open science involves the publication of research data, speedy editorial and communication processes through continuous publication of manuscripts and preprints, greater transparency in review processes and communication flows, and the pursuit of more comprehensive systems of review of manuscripts and journals.^2,3

PREPRINT

A preprint is a complete scientific manuscript that the authors place in a public server. Preprints contain complete data and methodologies. They are published on the web within one day approximately, without peer review, and can be viewed for free by anyone in the world, on platforms currently developed for this purpose, allowing scientists to directly control the promotion of their work for the scientific community around the world. In most cases, the same work published as preprint is also submitted for peer review in a journal. Therefore, preprints (not validated by peer review) and the publication of journals (validated by peer review) work in parallel as a communication system for scientific research.^4,5

Submitting a manuscript to a preprint platform is not considered double publishing. Submitted articles cannot have been previously published elsewhere, either in whole or in part, in the form of either book chapters or journal papers. Neither can they be simultaneously submitted to other journals. Manuscripts previously published in scientific conference proceedings, preprint platforms, as preliminary versions or working papers, are considered unpublished for these purposes.

Authors of manuscripts previously published on preprint servers must inform their online location (link, DOI etc.). They will be submitted to a blind review, in which reviewers are informed of authors’ identities. Manuscripts not previously published on preprint servers, on the other hand, go through a double-blind review, in which neither reviewers nor authors know each other’s identities. Comments received by manuscripts in preprints can be considered by editors during the peer review.

If the author of a manuscript that is in peer review at ABC Imagem Cardiovascular wants to deposit it on a preprint server, he/she must request the journal’s authorization through an e-mail: abcimaging@cardiol.br.

See below the complete list of preprints servers accepted by the journal:

Name	Link	Area	Publisher/Maintainer
SciELO Preprints	https://preprints.scielo.org/	Multidisciplicar	SciELO
MedRxiv	https://www.medrxiv.org/	Multidisciplicar	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
OSFPreprints	https://osf.io/preprints/	Multidisciplicar	Center of Open Science
Preprints	https://www.preprints.org/	Multidisciplicar	APSA/Cambridge

Accepted manuscripts previously published in preprint platforms must include a link to the version published in ABC Imagem Cardiovascular.

The journal ABC Imagem Cardiovascular seeks to keep its platform and rules constantly updated, in keeping with the practices of modern scientific publication. Today, we accept preprints and open science platforms to encourage communication among authors.

Sources:
^1. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Ci%C3%AAncia_aberta
^2. https://www.cienciaaberta.net/
^3. http://www.ciencia-aberta.pt/sobre-ciencia-aberta
^4. http://blog.scielo.org/blog/ 2017/02/22/scielo-preprints-a-caminho/#.Wt3U2IjwY2w
^5. http://asapbio.org/preprint-info

DEIA PRINCIPLES

ABC Imagem Cardiovascular is ethically committed to promoting the adoption of DEIA principles throughout its editorial process, aiming to foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in scientific research and publishing, and to ensure the greatest possible plurality within the editorial board and peer review process.

To encourage diversity, authors are being prompted to self-declare their gender, race/color, and background when submitting articles, allowing for actions that support the inclusion of specific populations that may be underrepresented.

In terms of manuscript preparation, the journal recommends the application of SAGER guidelines to all research involving humans, animals, or any material derived from humans and animals.

General Principles
• Authors should use the terms sex and gender carefully to avoid confusion between them.
• When the research subjects include organisms capable of sex differentiation, the study should be designed and conducted in a way that reveals potential sex-related differences in outcomes, even if these differences were not initially anticipated.
• When subjects can also be differentiated by gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances), the research should similarly account for this additional level of distinction.
Section-Specific Recommendations for the Article
Title and Abstract	If only one sex is included in the study, or if the study results are applicable to only one sex or gender, the title and abstract should specify the sex of animals or any cells, tissues, and other derived materials, as well as the sex and gender of human participants.
Introduction	Authors should report, when relevant, if sex and/or gender differences may be anticipated.
Methods	Authors should report how sex and gender were considered in the study design, whether adequate representation of male and female individuals was ensured, and justify any exclusion of male or female individuals.
Results	Where appropriate, data should routinely be presented disaggregated by sex and gender. Sex and gender analyses should be reported separately from positive or negative outcomes. In clinical trials, data on dropouts and withdrawals should also be reported disaggregated by sex.
Discussion	The potential implications of sex and gender on the study results and analyses should be discussed. If a sex and gender analysis was not conducted, the rationale should be provided. Authors should also discuss the implications of not conducting such an analysis on the interpretation of the results.

Access the full document of the SAGER guidelines: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-016-0007-6.

OPEN DATA

ABC Imagem Cardiovascular encourages authors to make all content (data, program codes, and other materials) underlying the manuscript text available either prior to or at the time of publication. Exceptions are permitted in cases involving legal and ethical issues. The aim is to facilitate manuscript evaluation and, if approved, contribute to the preservation, reuse of content, and research reproducibility.
The adoption of good practices in preparing data for deposit is critically important for accessing, sharing, and reusing research data, and it also helps make the data “as FAIR as possible.” To better understand the FAIR Principles and how to make your data as FAIR as possible, it is recommended to use the FAIR-Aware tool: https://fairaware.dans.knaw.nl/.

At the time of submission, the author must submit a completed Mandatory Publication Form, which declares how the content underlying the manuscript text is available. Types of declarations:

If the data is already available:
1) The content underlying the research text is contained within the manuscript.
2) The content is already available. Please provide titles and corresponding URLs, access numbers, or DOIs for files containing the content underlying the article’s text.

If the data is not available:
1) The data will be made available upon reviewers’ request.
2) After publication, the data will be available upon authors’ request – this condition must be justified in the manuscript.
3) The data cannot be made publicly available. The author must provide justification.

The journal recommends depositing the data in reliable repositories such as Figshare and Zenodo.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific writing at the time of article submission. The following guidelines apply solely to the writing process and not to the use of AI tools for data analysis and insight extraction during research:

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies should only be used to enhance the readability and style of the manuscript. These technologies must be employed under human supervision and control, and authors must carefully review and edit the output, as AI may generate information that appears accurate but could be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors are ultimately responsible for the content of the work.
AI and AI-assisted technologies must not be listed or cited as author(s) or co-author(s) of the manuscript, as authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that only humans can assume and perform.
The use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing must be disclosed by including a section at the end of the manuscript at the time of initial submission, in addition to being cited in the methods section. This declaration should be made by completing the Mandatory Publication Form. This declaration is not necessary for basic tools, such as those used for grammar, spelling, and reference checks. If there is nothing to declare, no declaration is needed.

We recommend that authors read our Ethics Policy.

Note: To protect the rights of authors and the confidentiality of the research, this journal currently does not permit the use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies, such as ChatGPT or similar services, by reviewers or editors during the peer review and manuscript evaluation process. We are actively evaluating compatible AI tools and may revise these guidelines in the future.

CONTENTS OF MANUSCRIPT

TYPES OF MANUSCRIPTS

Original Article: The journal ABC Imagem Cardiovascular accepts all types of original cardiovascular research, including research in humans and experimental research. Clinical trials should follow specific recommendations (see item Types of Study). Note: Systematic analyses and meta-analyses are considered original manuscripts, not reviews.

Review Article: It is composed of critical and ordered evaluations of the literature on topics of clinical importance. The articles “What do cardiologists expect?” and “My approach to” are considered reviews.

Review Article: experts in subjects of relevant interest to readers are generally invited to write these reviews. ABC Imagem Cardiovascular also accepts review articles submitted spontaneously by the scientific community.
Article “What do cardiologists expect?”: review article requested by invitation sent by the Editorial Board to the clinical cardiologist with unequivocal expertise in a given cardiovascular topic, in which cardiovascular imaging plays an important role. The objective is to bring the perspective of the professional who requests and makes use of the information of the imaging exam in the approach of a specific theme. The text should be prepared in a succinct, practical and updated way, valuing the author’s expertise in the area, based on the most relevant scientific evidence available.
Article “My approach to”: prepared by echocardiographers and physicians from other areas of cardiovascular imaging (tomography, resonance, vascular, nuclear medicine) invited by the Editorial Board. The text should seek a succinct, practical and up-to-date approach to the use of echocardiography and/or cardiovascular imaging methods in the evaluation of a specific cardiovascular theme, valuing the author’s expertise in the area, based on the most relevant scientific evidence available.

Viewpoint: It presents the authors’ stance or opinion on a specific scientific theme. This stance or opinion must be sufficiently corroborated by the literature or their personal experience. These aspects will be the basis of the opinion being issued.

Case Report: Any cases including original descriptions of clinical observations or representing the originality of a given diagnosis or treatment or illustrating situations that do not occur very often in the clinical practice, which deserve a deeper understanding and more attention from cardiologists.

Cardiovascular Imaging: Images that illustrate classical concepts or demonstrate new findings, providing information about the mechanisms responsible for cardiovascular disease, emphasizing an abnormality, or highlighting a potential new role for noninvasive imaging are considered for publication. Figures in this category can be submitted as panels, with images separated with letters, if necessary. They should be unusual or refer to technological innovations in cardiovascular medicine, including echocardiography, vascular ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging or nuclear medicine, and may be associated with angiography. Moving image clips (videos) are considered supplementary materials and can be uploaded in MPG files preferably (videos in AVI format are not accepted).

Brief Communication: Original experiences whose relevance to the knowledge of a subject justifies the presentation of initial data of small series, or partial data of clinical trials.

Research Letter: These are concise reports focused on original study, clinical case or opinion. The letters must not duplicate other material published or sent for publication.

Editorial: Subjects or manuscripts critically addressed by a subject-matter specialist. All ABC Imagem Cardiovascular editorials are published upon invitation. We will not accept editorials submitted spontaneously.

Short Editorial: Also published upon invitation, it includes comments on original articles published in ABC Imagem Cardiovascular with scientific content and opinion from subject-matter specialists.

Letter to the Editor: Correspondence of scientific content related to manuscripts published in ABC Imagem Cardiovascular. The authors of the original manuscript will be invited to respond.

Special Article: Articles not classifiable in the categories previously described, but considered relevant, in the specialty, by the Editorial Board.

ORGANIZATION OF MANUSCRIPTS AND TECHNICAL STANDARDS

• Language:
ABC Imagem Cardiovascular is a bilingual publication. The manuscripts can be submitted either in Portuguese and/or English.

• Composition:
Note: The texts must be edited in a word processor (example: Microsoft® Word, Google Docs®, Writer®).

• Supplementary Material:

The authors can submit supplementary material attached to their manuscript, the publication of which will be online only if there is not enough space to include it in the printed article. The supplementary material must be relevant to the understanding and interpretation of the manuscript and must not repeat information from the printed article. The inclusion of supplementary material — which must be original and unpublished — must be limited and reasonable.
The supplementary material will undergo editorial and peer review along with the main manuscript. If the manuscript is accepted for publication and if the supplementary material is considered suitable for publication by the editors, it will be published online upon publication of the manuscript as additional material provided by the authors. The material will not be edited or formatted, so the authors are responsible for the accuracy and presentation of the entire material. Each supplementary material must be identified as such upon submission of the manuscript and cited in the manuscript.

• Central Illustration:

For original and review articles, submitting a central figure is mandatory. Below are some guidelines to assist with creating the image:

Purpose of the Central Illustration:

Summarize the main message of the scientific article.
Encourage viewing and promote interdisciplinary research.
Help readers quickly identify the relevance of the article to their interests.
Capture the reader’s attention and spark curiosity.
Not to replace the article or written abstract but to briefly introduce and summarize the topic.

Ideal Characteristics:

Self-Explanatory: Should be quickly understood by the reader.
Concise and Direct: Use minimal words and impactful graphics.

Creation Process:

Conceptualize: Define the main message and target audience.
Conceptualize: Define the main message and target audience.
Design: Use graphic design software to assist with production.

Tips for Creating a Graphical Abstract:

Focus on Uniqueness and Clarity:

Clear beginning and end.

Visual indication of the biological context.

Distinction from figures or model diagrams in the article.

Emphasize new findings and avoid excessive detail.

Avoid including too much data; the content should be graphical and visual.

Keep It Simple:

Use simple labels and minimal text.

Highlight a single, clear process or point.

Avoid distracting or cluttered elements.

Sketch First:

Make hand-drawn sketches to organize ideas.

Prefer illustrations and visual icons.

Arrange elements visually, avoiding overcrowding.

Design Software:

Use tools like PowerPoint if professional software is unavailable.

Tools like Canva and Mind the Graph can assist with figure creation.

Characteristics of an Effective Abstract:

Accurate: Reflects the article’s content correctly.

Self-Sufficient: Defines abbreviations and acronyms.

Concise and To the Point: Informative and succinct.

Non-Evaluative: Avoids personal comments.

Coherent and Easy to Read: Clear, readable, and accessible.

Example of a central figure published in the journal:

Access to the article: https://www.abcimaging.org/article/the-women-of-the-cardiovascular-imaging-department-of-the-brazilian-society-of-cardiology-career-and-family-challenges/

SUMMARY TABLE OF THE STRUCTURING OF ARTICLES

SUBMISSION AND REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

SUBMISSION

To submit your article, visit https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/abcimaging and register as an author. If you already have a reviewer login, use the same access. Follow the steps below to submit your article:

When registering as an author, it is essential to link your ORCiD (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) number. ORCiD is a unique, free, and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes one academic/researcher from another and solves the issue of author name ambiguity and similarity, replacing name variations with a single numeric code. To register your ORCiD ID, visit: https://orcid.org/register.

When uploading files related to the article, the author must also submit the Mandatory Publication Form. In this form, the corresponding author or the first author must declare the following information regarding:

Copyright Confirmation;
Potential Conflict of Interest;
Ethics Committee (Not applicable to articles whose research does not involve humans, animals, or sensitive data);Use of Artificial Intelligence;
Compliance with Open Science;
Author Contribution (Not applicable for Editorials, Letters to the Editor, Scientific Letters, and Mini-editorials).

MANDATORY PUBLICATION FORM

COPYRIGHT: The corresponding author must declare that the article is original, does not infringe on any third-party copyright or other property rights, and has not been submitted for publication in any other journal. All manuscripts published by the journal remain the permanent property of the authors, with the journal retaining the right of first publication and the right to display, store, copy, and reuse the content.

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Conflicts of interest may occur among authors, reviewers, or editors and must be properly identified and disclosed to ensure transparency and integrity in the editorial process.

Potential conflicts of interest include any relationship of an author, directly or indirectly, through the research’s sponsoring institution, with companies that might benefit from the study results.

For this reason, all authors must disclose any relationships with industry or other relevant entities — financial or otherwise — over the past two years that might represent a conflict of interest concerning the submitted article. All relevant industry relationships, academic affiliations, and funding sources for the work must be declared in the form, as well as all institutional affiliations of the authors (including corporate commitments). This includes, but is not limited to, consultancies, stock ownership or other equity holdings, or patent licensing agreements.

The following types of relationships are considered potentially conflicting and must be declared:

If, in the past two years, any author:

Received consulting fees, lecture fees, writing fees, or any other type of compensation for services provided by the product manufacturer.
Received support from the product manufacturer (research funding, equipment supply, drugs, labor) related to the project under review or another project involving the same product.
Received support from the product manufacturer to attend conferences.
Received support from the product manufacturer to attend conferences.
Had the product manufacturer involved in data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing.
Was employed by a company that could directly or indirectly benefit from the study results.

ETHICS COMMITTEE: For articles involving research on humans and animals, the corresponding author must declare in the form the name of the Research Ethics Committee, approval number, and date. Additionally, whenever possible, upload the Research Ethics Committee approval alongside the form.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The corresponding author must declare the use of generative AI in scientific writing at the time of article submission. See the “Use of Artificial Intelligence” section, as well as the journal’s Ethics Policy.

COMPLIANCE WITH OPEN SCIENCE: The corresponding author must provide information regarding the manuscript’s compliance with Open Science communication practices. Authors are asked to indicate: (a) whether the manuscript is a preprint and, if so, its location; and (b) whether data, program codes, and other materials underlying the manuscript text are properly cited and referenced.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTION: The corresponding author must declare the contribution of each co-author according to the participation types below:

Research conception and design.
Data acquisition.
Data analysis and interpretation.
Data analysis and interpretation.
Funding acquisition.
Manuscript writing.

Critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content.

TYPES OF STUDY – CONFORMATION FOR APPROVAL

CLINICAL TRIAL/EXPERIMENTAL STUDY (CONSORT COMPLIANT)

Reports of randomized trials must conform to the revised CONSORT guidelines and should be submitted with their protocols and a completed CONSORT checklist. All reports of clinical trials must include a summary of previous research findings and explain how the submittedtrial affects this summaryof previous findings. Cluster randomized trials should be reported according to extended CONSORT guidelines. Randomized trials reporting harms must be described according to extended CONSORT guidelines. All reports of randomized trials should include a section entitled “Randomization and masking” within the methods section. For information regarding CONSORT guidelines, please visit http://www.consort-statement.org.

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY (STROBE COMPLIANT)*

Observational research comprises several study designs and many topic areas. The STROBE statement should be used when reporting such research. The STROBE recommendations apply to the three main analytical designs usedin observational research: cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies. The STROBE statement consists of a 22-item checklist. For information regarding STROBE guidelines, please visit http://www.strobe-statement.org.

*Please note that ABC Imagem Cardiovascular uses a customized version of the STROBE checklist, available only at http://www.editorialmanager.com/mdin the “Files & Resources” section of the home page.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS (PRISMA COMPLIANT)

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to PRISMA guidelines, an evidence-based minimum set of items createdto help authors improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The PRISMA Statement consists of a 27-item checklist and a four-phase flow diagram. For information regarding PRISMA guidelines, please visit http://www.prisma-statement.org.

META-ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES IN EPIDEMIOLOGY (MOOSE COMPLIANT)

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies in epidemiology should be reported according to MOOSE guidelines. For more information regarding MOOSE guidelines, please visit http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/meta-analysis-of-observational-studies-in-epidemiology-a-proposal-for-reporting-meta-analysis-of-observational-studies-in-epidemiology-moose-group/.

DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY STUDY (STARD COMPLIANT)

Investigators reporting studies of diagnostic accuracy should adhere to the STARD statement, partof the STARD initiative to improve the accuracy and completeness of reporting of studies of diagnostic accuracy, to allow readers to assess the potential for bias in astudy (internal validity) and to evaluate a study’sgeneralizability (external validity). The STARD statement consists of a 25-item checklist and recommends the use of a flow diagram to describe the design of the study and the flow of patients. For information regarding STARD guidelines, please visit http://www.stard-statement.org.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT STUDY (SQUIRE COMPLIANT)*

The SQUIRE statement helpsauthors write excellent, usable articles about quality improvement in healthcare so that findings may be easily discovered and widely disseminated.The SQUIRE statement consists of a 19-itemchecklist. The SQUIRE guidelines are not exclusive of other guidelines. For example, an improvement project or effectiveness study that used a randomized controlled trial design should consider using both the CONSORT and the SQUIRE guidelines.In these cases, both checklists should be uploaded as a single document.For more information regarding SQUIRE guidelines, please visit http://squire-statement.org/.

*Please note that ABC Imagem Cardiovascular uses a customized version of the SQUIRE checklist, available only at http://www.editorialmanager.com/mdin the “Files &Resources” section of the home page.

ECONOMIC EVALUATION STUDY (CHEERS COMPLIANT)

Developed by the ISPOR Quality Improvement in Cost-Effectiveness Research Task Force, the CHEERS statement supports the quality, consistency, and transparency of health economic and outcomes research reporting in the biomedical literature. The CHEERS statement includes a 24-item checklist. For more information regarding CHEERSguidelines, please visit http://www.ispor.org/taskforces/EconomicPubGuidelines.asp.

CLINICAL CASE REPORT (CARE COMPLIANT)

The CARE guidelines provide a framework to support the need for completeness, transparency and data analysis in case reports and data from the point of care. The main tools of CARE are the CARE Statement, CARE checklist, and a Case Report Writing Template. These products offer a rationale and a standardized format for authors to prepare more complete and transparent case reports. For more information regarding CARE guidelines, please visit http://www.care-statement.org/.

ETHICS: HUMAN STUDIES

Studies on patients or volunteers must be receive ethics committee approval and informed consent, which should be documented in the paper, including the approval number. Patients have a right to privacy. Authors should remove information from photographs and manuscripts that might identify a patient. Where this is impossible, submissions must be accompanied by a written release from the patient. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that patients’ privacy is protected. Authors should pay close attention to images that contain identifiable individual patient characteristics or data such as eyes, date of birth, case number, initials, birthmarks, etc. Informed consent should be obtained in writing from the patient if there is concern that a patient’s anonymity cannot be maintained in written text or with use of photographs or video.

Written consents must be provided to the editorial office on request. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. If such consent has not been obtained, personal details of patients included in any part of the paper and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission.

ANIMAL RESEARCH AND STUDIES

In experiments involving animals, the standards established in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1996) and the Ethical Principles in Animal Experiments of the Brazilian Council of Animal Experimentation (COBEA) must be respected. Research must conform the following items: 1) animal care and use by qualified individuals, supervised by veterinarians, and all facilities and transportation must comply with current legal requirements and guidelines; 2) research involving animals should be done only when alternative methods to yield needed information are not possible; 3) anesthesia must be used in all surgical interventions, all unnecessary suffering should be avoided and research must be terminated if unnecessary pain or fear results; and 4) animal facilities must meet the international standards.

EXCLUSIVE SUBMISSION/PUBLICATION POLICY

Manuscripts are considered for review only under the conditions that they are not under consideration elsewhere and that the data presented have not been previously published (including symposia, proceedings, transactions, books, articles published by invitation, and preliminary publications of any kind, excepting abstracts that do not exceed 500 words). As mentioned earlier, the journal accepts articles made available on preprint platforms, and the copyrights belong exclusively to the authors, with the journal retaining exclusivity for the first publication. All published articles are licensed under the CC-BY license.

STATISTIC GUIDELINES

Proper use of statistical methods as well as their correct description is of paramount importance for manuscripts published in ABC Imagem Cardiovascular. Therefore, some general guidelines apply to the information to be provided regarding statistical analysis (for further details, we suggest reading the European Heart Journal’s statistical guidelines).

1) About the sample: Details of both the population of interest and the procedures used to define the study sample.
2) Under Methods, there must be a subtopic exclusively addressed to the description of the statistical analysis used in the study, containing:

• Presentation of continuous and/or categorical variables: continuous variables with normal distribution should be presented as mean and standard deviation and continuous variables with non-normal distribution should be presented as median and interquartile range. Categorical variables should be presented by absolute numbers and percentages, with the relevant confidence intervals.
• Description of statistical methods used. If more complex statistical methods are used, some reference literature should be provided for them;
• As a general rule, statistical tests should always be bilateral rather than unilateral;
• The significance level adopted; and
• Specifications of the software used in the statistical analyses, including its version.

3) As for the presentation of the results from statistical analyses:

• The main results should always be described with their relevant confidence intervals;
• Do not repeat in the body of the manuscript the data found in tables and figures;
• Instead of presenting excessively long tables, use charts as an alternative to make it easier for the readers to understand the contents;
• In tables, even if the p-value is not significant, state its value instead of “NS” (e.g., p = 0.29 instead of NS).

PLAGIARISM

PLAGIARISM POLICY

Plagiarism is not accepted in ABC Imagem Cardiovascular. It compromises the true meaning of Science. Plagiarism is defined when an author attempts to use someone else work as his or her own. Another form of plagiarism is self-plagiarism, ou duplication: it occurs when an author reuses significant parts of his or her own published work without appropriate references. Plagiarism is a scientific misconduct and will be addressed as such. When plagiarism is detected at any time before publication, the editorial office will take appropriate action as directed by the standards set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For additional information, please visit http://www.publicationethics.org.

ABC Imagem Cardiovascular uses the iThenticate software to verifiy the originality of content submitted before publication. iThenticate checks submissions against millions of published research papers, and billions of web content. Authors, researchers and freelancers can also use iThenticate to screen their work before submission by visiting http://www.ithenticate.com.

PLAGIARISM DETECT BEFORE PUBLISHING

ABC Imagem Cardiovascular editors will evaluate any case of plagiarism on its limits. If plagiarism is detected before publishing then we will inform the author(s) and will ask them to rewrite the content or use appropriate references from where the content has been taken. If more than 25% of the paper is plagiarized, then the article will be rejected and authors notified.

HOW PLAGIARISM IS CHECKED?

All the submitted manuscripts for publication are checked for plagiarism with online tools after submission and before starting review.

HOW IS PLAGIARISM HANDLED?

The manuscripts in which the plagiarism is detected are handled based on the extent of the plagiarism.

10-25% Plagiarism: The manuscript is sent back to the author for content revision without entering the review process.

> 25% Plagiarism: The manuscript will be rejected without the entering the review process. The authors are advised to revise the manuscript and resubmit the manuscript.

PLAGIARISM DETECTION AFTER PUBLICATION

If a case of plagiarism is detected after ABC Imagem Cardiovascular had published the article we will contact the author’s institute and funding agencies.

A determination of misconduct will lead the ABC Imagem Cardiovascular to publish a statement, linked online to and from the original paper, to note the plagiarism and to provide a reference to the plagiarised material. In severe cases (> 50% of plagiarism) the paper will be formally retracted.

WORD COUNT LIMITS

The electronic word count should include the title, the cover page, abstract, text, references and figures/tables legends.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESS

ANALYSIS (PEER REVIEW)

ABC Imagem Cardiovascular uses a double-blind peer-review system, meaning that the reviewers of the paper will be blind to the identity of the author(s), and the author(s) will be blind to the identity of the reviewer. At initial submission, a manuscript is reviewed by editorial staff for compliance with journal style and to make sure the submission is clear and legible for reviewers and editors. Once the editorial staff have checked in the paper, it is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief, who will assign it to an Associate Editor. The Associate Editor then determines if it should be sent for peer review or if it is not of sufficient priority for ABC Imagem Cardiovascular. All reviewers and editors are asked to report any potential conflicts of interest, and when those exist the manuscript is reassigned to a different editor or reviewer. The manuscripts are submitted to statistical review, whenever necessary. Once at least to 2 reviews have been completed, the submission is reviewed by the associate editors and Editor-in-chief, who come to one of the six decisions below. Reviewers have 15 days to review the manuscript.

• Accept: The manuscript is acceptable for publication in its current form. However, minor edits may be made by the medical editors, illustrators, or the editorial staff, and authors will need to work with the appropriate contacts to ensure these changes are incorporated post-acceptance.
• Minor Revision: It is important to note that this decision does not guarantee acceptance. However, less significant edits are required than a Revision Required decision. Authors have 15 days to make the changes requested.
• Major Revision: In this case, more significant edits are required. Authors have 30 days to make the changes requested. It is important to note that this decision does not guarantee acceptance.
• Reject & Resubmit: The manuscript is unacceptable for publication in its current form. However, the editors are willing to reconsider a thoroughly revised manuscript. The authors must respond to all reviewer and editor comments and the submission will be re-reviewed and treated as a new submission.
• Reject: The manuscript is unacceptable for publication and/or is not an appropriate fit for ABC Imagem Cardiovascular.

In alignment with Open Science, the name of the editor responsible for the evaluation will be published in the article.

The responsibility for the content of the journals and articles lies with the authors and editors, as per agreements established between the parties.

APPROVAL

1- Acceptance will be based on originality, significance and scientific contribution to the body of knowledge in the area.

2- The final formatted version (in Portuguese and English) will be sent to the author, who must return it within 5 days with minimal spelling adjustments. If the author does not respond in 5 days, these will be considered the final versions for publication.

PUBLICATION

After the author’s approval, the versions are sent to indexation, when the DOI and the XML version are generated for indexing in the main indexers. The manuscript will be allocated to a volume and an issue, and published online on the journal website (PDF and HTML).