Instructions to Authors
Iranian Heart Journal is the official quarterly publication of the Iranian Heart Association and publishes original papers, case reports, and brief communications on topics in pediatric and adult cardiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac anesthesia, and related issues from all over the world. The aim of Iranian Heart Journal is to advance scientific knowledge and understanding concerning all aspects of cardiovascular disease, and its scope covers medical students, residents in training, and fellows as well as specialists in cardiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac anesthesia, and vascular surgery. In order to submit a paper, you are kindly requested to read and observe the following guidelines carefully. Authors are notified when a manuscript is received. Each article is considered individually and undergoes a careful review process by the Editorial Board. Additional review may be requested from specialists in the related field. The final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of an article will be forwarded to the corresponding author as soon as possible. Accepted articles for publication will undergo corrective formatting and editing by the Technical Editor (s) who reserves the right to make any changes or deletions necessary in order to make the paper suitable for publication and update it to Iranian Heart Journal’s format. Received manuscripts will not be returned unless specifically requested by the author and accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Guidelines

The manuscript should be an original work (clinical or basic research) or interesting case presentation. Submitted papers must not be published or under consideration for publication elsewhere. Previous presentation of the work in medical congresses or symposiums are acceptable but must be mentioned in the footnotes.

Generic names instead of trade names must be used for medications (eg, propranolol instead of Inderal®) and standard abbreviations may be used after presenting the unabbreviated form in the text. Manuscripts not meeting these criteria will be returned to the authors for correction before undergoing evaluation by the Editorial Board for publishing.

• Type manuscripts double spaced throughout, including title page, abstract, text, references, tables, and legends.
  Standard text font is Times New Roman 12.
  
  
• Arrange manuscripts as follows: (1) title page, (2) abstract, (3) text, including introduction, material or patients and methods, results, discussion, and conclusions, (4) references, (5) tables, and (6) legends. Number the pages consecutively, beginning with the title page as 1 and ending with the legend page. Page numbers should be at the bottom center of each page.
  
  
• Average length for original articles is 5 printed pages, equivalent to 20 doublespaced manuscript pages: 1 title page, 1 abstract page, 10 pages of text, 4 tables or illustrations, 1 page of figure legends, and not more than 20 references. Text for case reports should be no more than 4 doublespaced typewritten pages, and correspondences no more than 2 doublespaced manuscript pages.
  
  
• The title page should include the title, authors and their academic degrees, name and location of the institutional affiliation or department (no more than 2), and address, telephone number, fax number and Email address for reprint requests at the bottom of the page. If more than 1 institution is named, indicate which authors are affiliated with each.
  
  
• Titles should be as short as possible (fewer than 95 letters and spaces). Also submit a short title of 40 characters to be used as a running title.
  
  
• Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words and should contain 4 sections in the following order: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Abstracts for case reports and correspondences should not be structured and must be shorter (50 to 75 words). Include keywords at the end of the abstract.
  
  
• Text should be organized as follows: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Methods should include the statistical analysis. Cite references, illustrations, and tables in numeric order in the text. Give all measurements and weights in standard metric units. Credit suppliers of drugs, equipment, and other brand-name material mentioned in the article in parentheses, giving company name and location.
  
  
• Acknowledgments All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship may be mentioned in the Acknowledgments section. It should include persons who provided technical help, writing assistance, and departmental supervision who only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.
  
  
• Conflict of interest Authors must acknowledge and declare any sources of funding and potential conflicting interest, such as receiving funds or fees by, or holding stocks and shares in, an organization that may profit or lose through the publication of the paper. Declaring a competing interest will not lead to the automatic rejection of the paper.
  
  
• Ethical guidelines must be addressed in the Materials and Methods section. (1) Please state that informed consent was obtained from all human adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minors. Include the name of the appropriate institutional review board that approved the project. (2) Indicate in the text that the maintenance and care of experimental animals complies with National Institutes of Health guidelines for the humane use of laboratory animals, or those of your institute or agency.
  
  
• References should be identified by using superscript numbers without changing the font size (eg,1, 2, 3). Do not cite personal communications, manuscripts in preparation, or unpublished data. Type the references double spaced on a separate sheet and number consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. List all authors if 6 or fewer; otherwise list the first 6 and add et al. Style and punctuation of references should conform to the Vancouver style or the Index Medicus format as in the examples below:
  
  Journal articles:
  1. Burt VL, Cutler JA, Higgins M, Horan MJ, Labarthe D, Whelton P, et al. Trends in the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in the adult US population. Hypertension 1995; 26: 60-69.
  
  Chapters in books:
  2. Ross DN, Martelli V, Wain WH: Allograft and autograft valves used for aortic valve replacement. In: Ionescu MI, (ed.). Tissue Heart Valves. London: Butterworth, 1979: pp. 319-29.
  
  
• Tables should be typed double spaced on separate sheets, each with a table number and title above the table and explanatory notes and legends below. Tables should be self-explanatory and the data should not be duplicated in the text or figures. If tables provide repetitive information, they will be deleted.
  
  
• Legends to illustrations should be typed double spaced on a separate sheet. Numbers should correspond to the order in which they appear in the text. Give the type of stain and magnification power for photomicrographs. Patients should not be recognizable in illustrations unless written consent is supplied.
  
  Illustrations should be submitted digitally (preferable), or in 3 sets of glossy prints. High-quality laser artwork is also acceptable, but photocopies are not. Write
  the first author’s last name, figure number, and an arrow indicating the top of the figure on the back of each illustration in pencil. All illustrations will be published in black and white unless color prints are specifically requested by the author(s).
  
  The author must be prepared to pay a fee for publication of color photographs.
  
  
• Reprints: Reprints can be ordered at an extra charge. Contact the Editorial Office for details.

Electronic manuscripts

All authors are strongly encouraged to submit their manuscripts via the Iranian Heart Journal Website using Microsoft Office Word (2003 or afterward) in order to allow more rapid editing and preparation for publication. The author should retain copies of all files as backup. Emails should bear the author’s name, short title of the article, and operating system used.

All manuscripts and correspondences should be submitted to:

Seyed A. H. Tabatabaei, MD
Editor-in-Chief

Iranian Heart Journal