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JACC: Case Reports Instructions for Authors

JACC: Case Reports Instructions for Authors

Updated May 2024

  1. Introduction
  2. Article Types
  3. Manuscript Organization
  4. Manuscript Content
  5. Editorial Policies
  6. JACC Journals Publication Integrity Guidelines
  7. Contacting Us

Introduction

JACC: Case Reports is an open access journal serving as a forum for promoting clinical cases and clinical problem solving. It will accept everyday educational or rare clinical cases, well described and with clear learning objectives. Furthermore, the journal aims to serve as a publication vehicle for early career cardiologists and members of the cardiovascular care team, and as a forum for mentorship on the review and publication process.

We request that all manuscripts be submitted online at https://www.jaccsubmit-case-reports.org.

Manuscript submissions should conform to the guidelines set forth in the "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations)," available online at http://www.icmje.org, available online and most recently updated in January 2024.

Article Types

JACC: Case Reports publishes the following manuscript types

Joint corresponding authors or more than 2 first or senior authors are not permitted for any article type.

Clinical Cases

Clinical cases or case reports should focus on the new knowledge they bring to our understanding of human health and disease. That is, it may point out pathophysiological mechanisms or their implications, a new way to think about clinical manifestations of a disease or condition, a new approach to diagnosis or management, etc. There should be educational value associated with current guideline-recommended practice. From clinical manifestations and treatment approaches to global health implications, clinical cases should focus on how to deal with a patient in clinical practice, regardless of whether the condition is rare or common.

To allow the opportunity to earn CME credits from your publication, we will work together with the authors to add 2-3 CME questions after acceptance of the submission. The editorial board will select certain cases for a Central Illustration. Authors will be notified and they will work with our Digital and Media Editors and the editors to create the illustration.

Articles should be laid out as follows:

Take Home Messages

Take Home Messages are learning points of the case. What do you want the reader to learn from this case? In 1-2 sentences, tell the readers what they should take away from after reading your case. This section should not be a duplicate of the Conclusions section.

Examples of Take Home Messages are as follows:

Example 1: Example 2:

Visual Summary

Figure on Equipment List

In cases that describe diagnostic investigations, interventional and surgical procedures, the readers need to know what equipment was used to perform the investigation or procedure. One figure from the submission must be an Equipment List providing the reader with what was used in the case, such that the reader can learn to reproduce the same test or procedure. This is very important in knowledge dissemination, as different readers from around the world may have different resources.

An example of an Equipment List can be found here: https://www.jaccsubmit-casereports.org/html/Sample_Equipment_List.docx

Case Video Summary (Optional)

Authors are encouraged to submit a case video summary (in MP4 or AVI format, maximum duration: 5 minutes) highlighting their submission for review. The case video can be from a prior submission to or presentation at a conference or equivalent meeting, for our peer review. To make the submission process simple for the authors, if they have an already-prepared case video that is >5 minutes, the authors must justify in their cover letter the reasons not to condense the submission to 5 minutes maximum. If the submission is accepted, the editorial team will work with the authors to edit the video content down to 5 minutes. Accepted submissions will include the 5-minute video in the online publication and published in the JACC: Case Reports YouTube channel.


Clinical Case Series

These should consist of 2 or more (up to 10) clinical cases/patients with the same clinical condition and should include a description of each patient’s presentation, diagnostic work-up, interventions, and outcomes (Patient 1, Patient 2, etc.). Relevant images should be included. The case presentation should be structured in stages, with expert commentary supplied between stages, to aid and educate the reader about key differential diagnostic and therapeutic considerations. At the end, a discussion of the case along with “Take-home messages” should be provided..

First-in-Human/Early Reports

This section should consist of only first-in-human (FIH) experience with diagnostic or therapeutic innovations or early reports of innovative pharmacotherapies. Such reports may include diagnostic breakthroughs in molecular biology, genetics, imaging or therapeutic breakthroughs including pharmacological and immunological treatment, transcatheter or surgical interventions. The submission may have been presented at a recent conference or meeting but may not have been previously published or be in press. Reports that describe participants enrolled in ongoing pivotal clinical trials will not be considered, but those describing patients in early feasibility studies or compassionate use experience may be considered if the subject(s) and study sponsor consented to submission. All subjects must have completed 30-day follow-up to be considered for submission. Given the difficulty of ascertaining whether a submission is truly first-in-human, the authors must include in their manuscript the following statement: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported experience of…” The format may be a Case Report or Case Series.

Articles should be laid out as follows, in addition to following the Clinical Cases / Clinical Case Series format:

How We Did It

This section is now broader in scope in that authors are asked to submit an article on how to perform, step-by-step, a diagnostic investigation or therapeutic intervention. The submission should be simple, easy to follow, and reproducible by those without prior experience with the technique. Submissions need not involve complex diagnostic techniques or interventional procedures. Since the aim is to have global impact, submissions on simple investigations or interventions are welcomed. A “How We Do It” manuscript may be accompanied by an editorial by a content expert on “how to” or “tips and tricks.”

Articles should be laid out as follows:

Multidisciplinary Team Discussions

This section aims to focus on the step-by-step chronological developments of a clinical problem and describes how clinicians/clinical teams’ reason and respond in each iteration based on clinical information. Please review an example here: here. Click here for a template to use in formatting your submission: https://www.jaccsubmit-casereports.org/html/JACC_CR_HCT_MDT_Live_Template.docx

Where relevant, the editorial board may select specific cases that are eligible for CME/MOC/ECME content, and we will work together with the authors to develop this initiative and to make the clinical case interactive and of CME value. It will be also highlighted every month on our issue as a CME/ MOC/ECME case. Authors of accepted cases may be invited to write the 5 CME questions after acceptance of the paper.

Flash Debates and Controversies

This section aims to highlight a topic of interest that may be controversial in decision-making by a multidisciplinary team. Based on a clinical case, the authors should provide opposing views on the diagnostic and management strategies. This submission category is different from the “Multidisciplinary Team Discussions” in that the aim here is to present opposing viewpoints, while a “Multidisciplinary Team Discussions” submission is aimed to present and discuss decision-making of a complex case or condition that requires methodical investigations and management. 

Articles should be laid out as follows:

Beyond the Guidelines

Many clinical decisions are made in the absence of current guideline recommendations. This section focuses on such case presentations that do not fall within current guideline recommendations. Submissions here should not be on rare clinical conditions, but rather complex clinical problems not addressed by conventional guideline-directed treatment recommendations.

Where relevant, the editorial board may select specific cases that are eligible for CME/MOC/ECME content, and we will work together with the authors to develop this initiative and to make the clinical case interactive and of CME value. It will be also highlighted every month on our issue as a CME/ MOC/ECME case. Authors of accepted cases will be invited to write the 5 CME questions after acceptance of the paper.

Articles should be laid out as follows:

Contemporary Mini-Reviews

These mini-reviews are on contemporary topics that are relevant to practitioners worldwide. We will regularly call for papers on specific topics and mini-review submissions can based on them. The review should begin with a case summary, followed by a contemporary review of the subject matter. The review should not overlap or be similar to recently published reviews in the JACC family of journals. Authors are welcome to submit inquiry to the Editor-in-Chief or Deputy Editors regarding a topic of interest that they want to submit in this section to see if there will be interest by the Journal readership.

The mini-review should be eligible for CME/MOC/ECME content, and we will work together with the authors to develop this initiative and to make the article of CME value. Authors of the review will be invited to write the 5 CME questions after acceptance of the paper.

Articles should be laid out as follows:

Quality Improvement Projects

These manuscripts will describe small studies, clinical initiatives and operational activities with the end goal of measuring and enhancing quality of care. These projects can be from a single or multiple disciplines. Submissions by early career practitioners and allied health professionals are highly encouraged.

Articles should be laid out as follows:

The Four Corners

Diagnostic Challenge Corner

Interesting diagnostic images or ECG tracings will be considered. Authors will submit a case with image(s) or ECG tracing(s) (completely de-identified). The case description should be followed by a single multiple-choice question, followed by the correct answer and a discussion explaining correct/incorrect answers. Description of the clinical presentation and background history of the patient is very important.

Each month, the Editorial Board will select a Diagnostic Challenge of the Month to be highlighted on the journal’s website and promoted on ACC.org and through the ACC’s marketing and social media channels.

Clinical Vignette Corner

Clinical images of interesting or rare clinical entities, including diagnostic findings and therapeutic outcomes, with a brief explanatory text. 

Each month, the Editorial Board will select a Clinical Vignette of the Month to be highlighted on the journal’s website and promoted on ACC.org and through the ACC’s marketing and social media channels.

daVinci Anatomy Corner

Each selected case will include anatomical, histological and/or radiological images and may be accompanied by an editorial comment focusing on the challenges and Take-home Messages from each case. Key criteria for consideration for publication in this category include anatomic, pathologic, diagnostic and treatment correlations. The authors should include first anatomic illustrations, followed by imaging correlations during diagnostic evaluations, and finally imaging correlations during therapeutic intervention.

Unique to JACC Case Reports, some cases will include an STL or PDF file of a virtual 3D printed model, which can be downloaded by readers and opened on any web browser or imaging software to allow a comprehensive 3D visualization and review of the pertinent anatomy.

Cardiovascular Team Corner

This section aims to highlight the challenges faced by allied health professionals and trainees (medical students, residents, fellows and trainees in all the cardiovascular disciplines). Submissions can describe a clinical topic, workplace challenges, patient advocacy, etc. The submission is not case-based (but can revolve around a case if appropriate) but rather raises the issues that many of our non-physicians and trainees may face in their professional lives.

Viewpoints

These articles focus on topics on the human side of patient care from all perspectives: From the senior-level physician to the early career cardiologist or fellow in training, as well as cardiovascular team professionals and the patient. Essays exploring the patient-practitioner relationship, providing the patients’ perspectives, personal views and testimonials that affect the profession, are all welcome.

In terms of style, they must be formal in their presentation, as these are not blogs, and include citations (if relevant). Fictional stories are not allowed. Manuscripts may not be published anonymously or pseudonymously.

Letters to the Editor and Replies

Letters to the Editor will focus on a specific manuscript that has been published in JACC: Case Reports. Letters must be submitted within 6 weeks of the issue date of the article. We will seek a reply to your letter from the authors of the original paper and publish together, when possible. JACC: Case Reports does not consider letters to the editor on editorials.

Manuscript Organization

Please upload all supplemental materials, except for videos, as one separately uploaded Word document, labeled Supplemental Appendix. This should include all supplemental text, tables and figures, and figure legends).

Page numbering should begin with the title page.

Manuscript Content

The order in which these items appear should also be the order in which they appear in your submission.

Title Page

Keywords

Provide a maximum of 6 keywords, identical to the keywords chosen in the online submission platform, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, ’and’, ’of’). Be sparing with abbreviations. These key words will be used for indexing purposes, and therefore should be different than the terms/words already used in the title of the paper. Authors may select up to two additional freeform keywords that may or may not be used to index a manuscript online.

Abbreviations

Up to 10 abbreviations of common terms (e.g., ECG, PTCA, CABG) or acronyms (GUSTO, SOLVD, TIMI) may be used throughout the manuscript. On a separate page, list the selected abbreviations and their definitions (e.g., TEE ¼ transesophageal echocardiography). The editors will determine which lesser-known terms should not be abbreviated. Consult "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations)" for appro- priate use of units of measure.

Text

Use Times New Roman 12 pt font. Every reference, figure, table, and video should be cited in the text in numerical order according to order of mention.

References

Figures

All figures must have a number, title, and caption. Figure legends should be an in-depth explanation of each figure, including a figure TITLE, and a CAPTION that includes the purpose of the figure, and brief method, results, and discussion statements pertaining to the figure. All abbreviations used in the figure should be identified either after their first mention in the legend or in alphabetical order at the end of each legend. All symbols used (arrows, circles, etc.) must be explained. Target length should be 50-100 words per figure.

Videos

Videos should be uploaded as mp4 files. Videos are crucial when referring to an imaging modality where video sequences are available: For example, echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, or fluoroscopy. Submissions meeting this criteria without videos may be returned to the authors or rejected denovo to request this content.

Tables

Each table should be on a separate page, with the table number and title centered above the table and explanatory notes below the table. Use Arabic numbers. Table numbers must correspond with the order cited in the text. Tables should be self-explanatory, and the data presented in them should not be duplicated in the text or figures.

Central Illustration

The editors will notify authors if their paper has been chosen for a Central Illustration, and work with authors, editors and medical illustrators as appropriate.

Research Data

This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.

Data Statement: To foster transparency, we encourage you to state the availability of your data in your submission. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you will have the opportunity to indicate why during the submission process, for example by stating that the research data is confidential. For more information, visit the Data Statement page.

Editorial Policies

All manuscripts must be submitted online at https://www.jaccsubmit-case-reports.org. By submitting an article to the journal, all authors of the submission agree to receive emails from all the American College of Cardiology’s JACC Journals regarding your manuscript, including editorial queries while the manuscript is under review and emails from the publisher should the paper be accepted for publication. The contact information provided by the corresponding author will be included in the galley proofs, the published PDF version of the manuscript, and the online version of the manuscript.

Ethics

Manuscript submissions should conform to the guidelines set forth in the "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals," available online and most recently updated in December 2019.

Studies should be in compliance with human studies committees and animal welfare regulations of the authors’ institutions and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Human studies must be performed with the subjects’ written informed consent. Authors must provide the details of this procedure and indicate that the institutional committee on human research has approved the study protocol. If radiation is used in a research procedure, the radiation exposure must be specified in the Methods.

Patient Consent

Publication of any individually identifiable information about a living individual requires a written consent under HIPAA known as a “HIPAA authorization” from the individual or the individual’s guardian. Written consent may also be required under other federal, state, local or international laws. These consents are referred to herein globally as “consents.” While consents cannot be uploaded in the ACC submission site, authors are required to obtain them where necessary and to document in the submission data that they were obtained. ACC requires that authors obtain any necessary consents before initial submission to avoid delays if the submission is accepted for publication. Additionally, if a submission is accepted, authors will have to sign a form confirming they have obtained all necessary consents The authors of each submission are fully responsible for obtaining any necessary consents.

Additionally, if you are conducting research on human subjects you are required to obtain: (1) institutional review board approval and (2) (a) informed consent or (b) a waiver of informed consent in accordance with applicable law. Such institutional review board approval must be completed prior to commencement of the research. The author’s submission should clearly articulate the institutional review board’s determination as to whether informed consent was required or waived. If the consent is subject to conditions, please inform ACC upon submission of your paper. In certain scenarios, the institutional review board or your institution may determine that the research is exempt and oversight is not required in accordance with applicable law and institutional policy. If so, the exemption must be documented in the submission. *Note that submission of individual case reports (Clinical Cases, Clinical Case Series, Imaging Vignettes, etc.) to JACC: Case Reports will not require institutional review board approval but will require consent.*

Individual’s privacy is paramount to ethical research. Therefore, identifying information, including individuals’ names, initials, hospital numbers, and images should not be included in videos, recordings, written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and only the minimum necessary identifiable information is articulated in the research.

Even where consent/ authorization 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 an assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning.

Unless individually identifiable information is essential, all submissions should be de-identified and anonymized in accordance with applicable international, federal, state and local laws. As stated above you are responsible for obtaining all necessary HIPAA authorizations and consents under applicable law, including but not limited to obtaining permissions to de-identify and anonymize information included in the submission In instances where information will be included from deceased individuals, consents should be obtained from the deceased individual’s next of kin or legal representative in accordance with applicable law.

In the event the submission involves research on animals such research shall be approved by an, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and be conducted in accordance with applicable law including but not limited to the Animal Welfare Act and to the extent applicable animal facilities must meet the standards of the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) and the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Animal Care International.

The JACC Journals have an ethics committee comprised of 7 members, which oversees quality control and will review issues of concern, as they arise.

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 appeared on the Internet or 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 400 words). Elsevier will maintain copyright records for the College.

Relationship with Industry Policy

All authors are required to disclose any relationship with industry and other relevant entities-financial or otherwise-within the past 2 years that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. All relevant relationships with industry, disclosures, and sources of funding for the work should be acknowledged on the title page, as should all institutional affiliations of the authors (including corporate appointments). This includes associations such as consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests or patent- licensing arrangements. If no relationship with industry exists, please state this on the title page.

All forms are now signed and submitted electronically. Once a manuscript is accepted, the authors will be sent links to complete the electronic Relationship with Industry forms. Elsevier now handles copyright for the journal. Only the corresponding author may electronically sign the copyright form; however, all authors are required to electronically sign a relationship with industry form. Once completed, a PDF version of the form is e-mailed to the author. Authors can access and confirm receipt of forms by logging into their account at https://www.jaccsubmit-case-reports.org. Each author will be alerted if his or her form has not been completed by the deadline.

The JACC Journals program prefers the term Relationships with Industry and Other Entities as opposed to the term Conflict of Interest, because, by definition, it does NOT necessarily imply a conflict. When all relationships are disclosed with the appropriate detail regarding category and amount, and managed appropriately for building consensus and voting, the JACC Journals program believes that potential bias can be avoided, and the final published document is strengthened since the necessary expertise is accessible.

Review Process

JACC: Case Reports uses a single-blind peer-review system, meaning that the authors are blinded to the identity of the reviewers and as a general rule, although there are exceptions, the reviewers are blinded to each other. While the JACC: Case Reports Associate Editor will be identified at the end of the review process, all correspondence concerning a manuscript should be addressed to the JACC: Case Reports editorial staff at jacc@acc.org. 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 JACC: Case Reports 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 JACC: Case Reports. 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. Once 2 reviews have been completed, the submission is reviewed by all JACC: Case Reports associate editors in a weekly meeting. The group then comes to one of the four decisions below:

Permissions

If a figure/table is reprinted or adapted from a previously published work, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder and sent to the editorial office. Please also see Figures.

Mentioning Brand Name Drugs/Devices

Please reduce or remove mentions of brand name/trademarked drugs and devices from the manuscript. In particular, we try to avoid using brand name/trademarked drugs and devices in titles. Note that if the manuscript is offering CME, we cannot discuss brand name drugs/devices at all.

If you are reproducing an image of a device, permission from the device manufacturer is the sole responsibility of the authors. You will not be asked to provide the permission, but the journal/Elsevier will assume that you have obtained permission at the point of acceptance.

Authorship

Each author must have contributed significantly to the submitted work. If authorship is attributed to a group (either solely or in addition to one or more individual authors), all members of the group must meet the full criteria and requirements for authorship. To save space, if group members have been previously published, the article should be referenced rather than reprinting the list of names. The editors consider authorship to include all of the following:

Participation solely in the collection of data does not justify authorship but may be appropriately acknowledged in the Acknowledgment section. Authors must also agree to the following statements. These questions will be part of the submission process and manuscripts will not be reviewed until they are confirmed: 1) the paper is not under consideration elsewhere; 2) none of the paper’s contents with the exception of abstracts have been previously published; 3) all authors have read and approved the manuscript; 4) 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; and 5) the full disclosure of any relationship with industry (see "Relationship with Industry Policy") or that no such relationship exists, is stated. Exceptions must be explained.

Please note that copyright is now handled by the publisher and no copyright form will be sent to you until the manuscript has been sent to the publisher. Only authors appearing on the final title page will be sent a form. YOU CANNOT ADD AUTHORS AFTER ACCEPTANCE OR ON PROOFS.

Expedited Review

In order for Case Reports to be considered for expedited review, they should report important original findings of high-potential clinical impact or research significance. Authors should request expedited review and the rationale for this request in their cover letter at the time of submission. The editors commit to a decision regarding suitability for expedited publication processing within 2 days, and an initial decision within 14 days. Those manuscripts not deemed appropriate for the expedited publication track will be considered according to the standard review process. We always inform authors whether we are able to offer expedited review. An agreement to provide expedited review does not guarantee acceptance.

Statistics

All publishable manuscripts will be reviewed for appropriateness and accuracy of statistical methods and statistical interpretation of results. We subscribe to the statistics section of the "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (ICMJE Recommendations)." In the Methods section, provide a subsection detailing the statistical methods, including specific methods used to summarize the data, methods used for hypothesis testing (if any), and the level of significance used for hypothesis testing. When using more sophisticated statistical methods (beyond t tests, chi-square, simple linear regression), specify the statistical package, version number, and nondefault options used. For more information on statistical review, see "Glantz SA. It is all in the numbers. J Am Coll Cardiol 1993;21:835-7."

Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by email. To appeal a decision, send your rationale as to why the editors should reconsider the paper to jacccr@acc.org . The rationale should address all of the reviewers’ concerns. The editors may grant or deny the appeal, and their decision is final. Appeals must be submitted within 30 days of the date the decision was rendered.

Open Access

This is an open access journal: all articles will be immediately and permanently available for everyone to read and download without cost. Permitted third party (re)use is defined by the following Creative Commons user licenses (see (http://www.elsevier.com/openaccesslicenses.)

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommericial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND): For non-commercial purposes, lets others distribute and copy the article, and to include in a collective work (such as an anthology), as long as they credit the author(s) and provided they do not alter or modify the article. If you need to comply with your funding body policy, you can apply for a CC-BY license after your manuscript is accepted for publication.

To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an article-publishing charge, or APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or on their behalf, e.g., by their research funder or institution. The open access fee for submissions is $650, with a 25% discount for American College of Cardiology members and a 25% discount for all fellows, excluding taxes. We also offer a discount of 50% if the first/corresponding or senior author is from a developing country. Learn more about Elsevier’s pricing policy: http://www.elsevier.com/openaccesspricing

JACC Journals Publication Integrity Guidelines

JACC Journals have adopted integrity guidelines to help authors uphold the ethics, values, and principles of the publication process at the highest standards. The guidelines below include best practices and are consistent with those implemented by other journals and scientific publishers.

Plagiarism

The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) defines plagiarism as “theft or misappropriation of intellectual property and the substantial unattributed textual copying of another’s work.” Manuscripts where unacknowledged copying of others’ ideas, language and/or results will not be published in JACC Journals and, depending on level of egregiousness, will be reported to ORI and/or other agencies. Therefore, authors should ensure that appropriate attribution and citation is provided when discussing, paraphrasing, or summarizing the work of others. Included is the use of one’s own text from previous publications (exclusive of materials and methods), where appropriate attribution and citation is necessary. Reuse of one’s own or others’ previously published data, whether it be publishing the same paper in multiple journals or adding incremental new data to a previous publication without providing appropriate references, will be considered a duplicate publication.

Should JACC Journals discover acts of plagiarism pre-publication, the publication process will be halted until the matter is resolved. Should JACC Journals discover acts of plagiarism post-publication, an investigation to determine the extent and context of the plagiarism will be conducted. JACC Journals reserve the right to correct or retract any publication based on the findings of said investigations.

Due credit for unpublished and published work

Authors must discuss, properly cite, and provide appropriate permissions for any unpublished work included in submitted manuscripts. Any data, intellectual contribution, and/or technical development, including unpublished data from databases, must be acknowledged and appropriately cited. Authors must include written assurance that they are complying with the data-licensing agreements of the original source documents when using licensed data. If an author is reusing or modifying previously published or copyrighted figures, documented permission from the previous publisher or copyright holder is required.

Duplicate Publication

Material submitted to a JACC Journal must be original. Submitted material cannot have been previously published and cannot be simultaneously submitted elsewhere (exclusive of meeting abstracts). Related manuscripts under consideration or in press elsewhere must be declared by authors submitting to a JACC Journal at the time of submission in the cover letter. If related material is submitted elsewhere after submission to a JACC Journal, authors must notify the JACC Journal immediately.

Data integrity

All data and figures published in JACC Journals must accurately represent the original data and findings. Misrepresentation of data acquisition and/or post-acquisition processing is not acceptable.

While JACC Journals understand minor data processing may be unavoidable, submitted digital images must be as close to original as possible. Processing/image adjustment (e.g., contrast or brightness) must be applied equally across the entire image and any relevant controls. Any image processing/adjustment should not make data disappear or mask additional bands. Authors should explain any image alterations in the figure legend and identify image acquisition tools and processing software in the methods. Integral settings and processing manipulations used to process the presented data should also be described.

JACC Journals reserve the right to request all unprocessed data files included in a submitted manuscript. Manuscript evaluation may be halted or discontinued if the files are not available upon request.

Authors should take care to adhere to the following specific concerns: Electrophoretic gels and blots.Cropped gels must preserve all important bands. Individual images cannot be used in multiple figures except when the figures describe different aspects of the same experiment (e.g., when a single control experiment served serves multiple experiments performed simultaneously). When an image is used in multiple figures, authors must clearly state the reason(s) for this in the figure legend.

Quantitative comparisons between samples on different gels/blots should be avoided, and only performed when normalizing controls are available for both gels. Protein loading controls must be run on the same blot. If unavoidable, the figure legend must indicate that the samples are derived from the same or parallel experiments and that the gels/blots are processed in parallel.

Removal of irrelevant or blank lanes from a gel is permissible; however, such alterations must be noted in the figure legend and boundaries between the nonadjacent or rearranged lanes must be clearly marked in the figure.

Microscopy. A scale bar should be included with all microscopy images. The measured resolution at which an image was acquired and any subsequent processing or averaging that enhances the resolution must be clearly stated. Adjustments should be applied over the entire image.

Microscopy settings for comparable controls and samples should be the same between experiments. Any necessary nonlinear, pseudocolor, or color adjustments made to images must be stated in the figure legend. Any manipulation of threshold and expansion or contraction of signal ranges should be avoided.

Authors should not combine images obtained separately, at different times, or from different locations, into a single image, unless specifically stated in the figure legend.

Data Visualization Guidelines. Figures representing data need to be designed and presented in a way that allows readers to understand and critically interpret the data. Authors must ensure that figures use easily distinguishable colors/lines/symbols and are color-blind-safe.

Continuous data and small sample sizes should be represented with figures that show full data distribution, such as dot or scatter plots. Bar graphs should be avoided except when showing counts or proportions.

Authors should consider adding a flow chart or study design diagram when appropriate. Flow charts should provide information about excluded observations and reasons for exclusion at each phase of the study.

Data Management Guidelines. As outlined by ORI, data management is one of the essential areas of responsible conduct of research (https://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/clinicaltools/data.pdf.) Authors are expected to maintain all of the primary data used for their research submission, so that it can be evaluated by the reviewers and editors. At a minimum the retention of data after manuscript publication should conform to the policies within the authors’ organization and the funding organization.

Contacting Us

For enquiries relating to the submission of articles or to articles currently under review, please contact the JACC: Case Reports editorial office at jacccr@acc.org

The mailing address for the JACC: Case Reports editorial office and the Editor-in-Chief is:

Gilbert H. L. Tang, MD, MSc, MBA
Editor-in-Chief, JACC: Case Reports
Heart House, 2400 N Street NW
Washington, DC, 20037
Phone: (202) 375-6136
Fax: (202) 375-6819

For information on articles that have been accepted for publication, please visit Elsevier’s Authors Home at www.elsevier.com/authors. Elsevier’s Authors Home also provides the facility to track accepted articles and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article’s status has changed, as well as detailed artwork guidelines, copyright information, frequently asked questions, and more. Authors can order copies of the issue in which their article appears at a discounted rate; please contact Elsevier Health Sciences Division, Subscription Customer Service, 3251 Riverport Lane, Maryland Heights, MO 63043, Tel: 1-800-654-2452, E-mail: journalscustomerservice-usa@elsevier.com. English language help service: Upon request, Elsevier will direct authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper (before submission). Please contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for further information.

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