The Revista Uruguaya de Cardiología (RUC) is the official scientific publication of the Sociedad Uruguaya de Cardiología (SUC). It is a peer-reviewed journal that deals with aspects of biomedical sciences related to the cardiovascular system and related specialties.

Under the modality of open access and continuous online publication, it periodically publishes five or more articles in Spanish, integrated in an annual volume.

The journal adheres to the ethical principles of the Heart Group and to the Recommendations for the Conduct, Information, Edition and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals developed by the International Committee of Biomedical Journals Editors (ICMJE) and translated into Spanish. Updated in 2017. Available at: www.ICMJE.org

Anti-plagiarism system (Crossref-iThenticate-http: //www.ithenticate.com/) is applied through the Uruguayan Association of Academic Journals.

The manuscripts published are original and based on scientific research, including, among others, basic, applied, clinical and epidemiological research. Other material published include editorials, editorial comments, opinion articles, review articles, controversies, cardiology techniques, scientific letters (clinical case reports and images of interest) and any other type of article deemed of interest for the journal by the Editorial Board (EB).

The manuscript should be sent electronically to the Editor-in-Chief as an attachment, to the e-mail address: bibliosuc@adinet.com.uy.

The editorial process of the articles received in ORIGINAL RESEARCH format is processed through the OJS digital platform; to Access the tutorial on how to registe ron this plaform, click here: https://ruc.suc.org.uy/RUC/login

The articles should be written in Spanish, in the clear and concise language typical of scientific style. Colloquial language should be avoided. They must be presented in A4 format, using Arial 11 for the body text, 2.0-centimeter margins and 1.5 spacing.

Articles in English are also received, and, if accepted, they will be translated into Spanish for publication. The online version of the journal will include those articles in both languages.

Text files must be editable; word processors like Open-Office or Microsoft Office-Word are suggested. Any illustrations contained in the manuscripts must be sent in a separate file, not included in the text, using jpg, bmp, tiff or jpeg format, in high resolution (300 dpi or more). Tables in the manuscripts should also be sent in separate files in an editable format (Microsoft-Office Excel or Open-Office). Figures and tables must be clearly designed, in high resolution formats as explained above, and their letters, numbers and symbols must be large enough to be legible despite size reductions. If they have been extracted from texts already published, their source must be stated, also stating whether any permission has been granted for their total or partial reproduction, and detailing any changes made. They should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and will be referred to in the text. Figures and tables must be in the same language as the article. In the case of photographs obtained through special techniques, both the technique and the scale must be stated. The texts and explanations of each figure must be written separately. The tables and graphs must have a brief title at the top and a legend at the bottom explaining the abbreviations and symbols used.

In addition, the corresponding author must attach a letter on behalf of all the authors, detailing the following information:

- Center where the work was conducted (when the article is original) or institutional origin of the authors in the rest of the articles. Do not include the authors’ position at the institution or their academic degrees.

- Name, address and e-mail address of the corresponding author. If no address is sent, correspondence will be sent to SUC with the author’s name.

- Authors’ contributions: a description of the contribution of each in the execution of the work.

- Specify that the manuscript is not being presented simultaneously in other media and that it has never been published.

- State that the manuscript was developed in compliance with international recommendations on human research (Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association, 1996 revision) or, if appropriate, based on international recommendations applicable to research with laboratory animals. In the case of research on human beings, include a statement saying they have been duly informed, and they have given their written consent to the procedures carried out, and that they agreed that the information obtained be used for scientific research purposes.

- Disclosure statements about the existence of any conflict of interest are mandatory. Whenever the authors consider there are none, that should also be made explicit: “The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest”.

Authors may send additional materials, or else send “links” to access them, whenever they believe such material may provide further insight of their manuscript (figures, videos).

This material should enrich the article, but in no case should it be essential for its understanding and assessment. As reviewers may have access to this information, as with the manuscript, it should not include any information identifying the authors or centers. The EB will evaluate the suitability of its publication in the printed version and/or the online version.

The author responsible for the work will receive confirmation of receipt within 48 hours of delivery.

Each manuscript will be examined by the EB to assess whether it conforms to publication standards and to determine the relevance of its content to the purposes of the journal. In case of non-compliance with the rules, or if its publication is not considered adequate, the authors will be notified of the inconveniences encountered. Otherwise, the editing process will get started and the date of receipt of the files will be considered the starting date of the process.

All articles will go through several stages of review, throughout which the EB will keep the authors informed about the process, upon completion of each stage.

The original articles will be reviewed by peers, double blind. The EB will appoint at least two reviewers. Authors will not know who has critiqued their manuscripts. Likewise, the reviewers will not know who the authors are, or the name of the institutions responsible for the article. It is essential that the authors omit from the text any reference that would give hints as to the origin of the text.

Upon receipt of the reviewers’ comments, which will be forwarded to the authors, the EB will notify about the acceptance or rejection of the article. In case of acceptance, in the new version sent by the authors, the modifications with respect to the initial version should be highlighted in the text, preferably in red. In addition, any response to queries or comments made by the reviewers, whether or not they are included in the new version, must be answered in a separate document that is to be sent to the EB. If deemed necessary, the EB may forward this document to the reviewers. This manuscript with the responses, together with the new full version (including unaltered tables and figures) should be forwarded to: bibliosuc@adinet.com.uy. On receipt of this document, an acknowledgement of receipt will be sent to the corresponding author.

When the arbitration process has been completed, the corresponding author will be informed of the final decision. The date on which the EB makes the decision to accept a manuscript is considered to be the formal date of acceptance. From that moment on, the article may be referenced, declaring it to be “in press”.

The corresponding author will receive the work in the RUC’s own editing format, which may include modifications of style or structure made by the EB and proofreaders. The author is expected to revise the file again within five days, answering any questions or comments in the PDF proper.

Manuscripts considered as original research articles are those in which the authors make a personal contribution to scientific knowledge. They should not exceed 5,000 words, not counting abstracts, key words, main contributions or bibliography. Manuscripts must contain:

It must include: (1) title of the article in Spanish, English and Portuguese, (2) name and surname of each author, (3) ORCID of each author, (4) institution(s) where the work was done, (5) full name, address and e-mail address of the corresponding author, (6) disclosure statement of sources of funding and conflicts of interest.

The name of each author will be preceded by the abbreviation of his/her professional title (Dr., Mg., Tech., Assistant, Br.). If the work was conducted at several institutions, each author’s surname will be followed by a numeric reference (1, 2, 3... n) as superscript, referencing to the corresponding institution.

The title should contain the core objective of the article, offering the reader a quick idea of what it is about, describing the design of the study with a common term. The site(s) where the work was carried out will not be included.

The second page should contain a structured abstract in Spanish, English and Portuguese not exceeding 250 words, with the following content: (1) Introduction. (2) Objective. (3) Method. (4) Results. (5) Conclusions. It should provide sufficient information for the main research procedures and contributions to be understood. An impersonal form should be used, and critical judgments or comments about the worth of the article should be omitted. The abstract should not include bibliographic references, nor citations to figures or tables. Respecting the language peculiarities, the translation should strictly match with the abstract in Spanish.

A maximum of ten keywords will be used. They will be written below each abstract, in Spanish, English and Portuguese. They should represent the content of the article and facilitate its inclusion in indexes.

The main contributions of the research should be summarized in a table inserted after the abstracts, under the title: What does this study add to current knowledge? There, the authors will briefly write (up to 100 words) what they deem to be the most relevant contribution of the research.

It will consist of the following sections: (1) Introduction. (2) Material and method. (3) Results. (4) Discussion. (5) Conclusions. (6) Bibliographic references. Subtitles may be included within the sections to clarify their content.

The Introduction should be brief, and its final paragraph should clearly state the hypothesis or hypotheses and the objectives of the work. It should not include an exhaustive review of the literature, but only mention those works necessary to understand the purpose of the study.

In the section Material and method, authors should describe the procedures carried out, including any details required to reproduce it. Methods and equipment should be identified thoroughly. Any new or modified methods must be detailed in depth. The name of the active ingredient must be used to refer to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

The procedures must abide by with the Helsinki ethical standards of 1975 (revised in 1983). The institution that ethically endorsed the implementation of the study protocol must be mentioned. Indicate whether the patients gave their informed consent to participate in the protocol, and, that they agree that the data obtained from them be used for research purposes. The patients’ anonymity must be ensured, rendering their identification impossible. In the case of animal experiments, indicate whether the authors followed the standards of the institution, of the National Research Council, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals.

Statistical methods must suit the hypothesis and objectives declared. Findings should be quantified and presented with appropriate indicators, showing the measurement of central trend and scatter, error, or uncertainty (including confidence intervals). Eligibility of test subjects should be discussed. Details on sampling and randomization methods should be provided. The number of observations should be specified, and any cases lost from observation should be mentioned (e.g., dropouts in a clinical trial). Specify statistical software used.

Results should be presented in an orderly, concise and objective manner, including only those strictly related to the objectives set forth initially. They should refer to tables or figures when appropriate, to ease their presentation and comprehension.

The Discussion should summarize the main findings, comparing results with previous work. If available, national references on the topic should always be included. At the end, describe strengths, limitations and suggestions for future research.

Conclusions should highlight the contributions of the work, supported by the results and directly linked to the research objectives.

Acknowledgements addressed to persons or institutions that contributed, directly or indirectly, to the study may be included at the end of the article.

The authors will indicate whether or not the data that do not compromise patient confidentiality and the methods used to carry out the research will be made available to readers, providing a contact e-mail address for that purpose.

With respect to bibliographic references, the author is responsible for writing them properly as detailed in the instructions below.

They should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. References that are only quoted in tables or figures should also be numbered in accordance with their appearance.

References should include articles published or in press, and only exceptionally abstracts.

Schematically they will be written following the style adopted by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and used in the Index Medicus, also known as the Vancouver Rules.

Examples: (a) Reference to a scientific article: author or authors of the article (maximum 6). When the article has more authors, the first six are mentioned, followed by the Latin expression “et al”. Title of the article. Abbreviated title of the journal, year of publication; volume: pages. Example: Reta G, Riva J, Arcos J, Cedrés G. Chronic obstructive disease. Rev Méd Urug 1992; 8:131-40. If the article of the citation in question is identified with doi (digital object identifier), the identifier must be added as a link at the end of the citation, respecting the appropriate NISO standard; it should be linkable. Example: at the end of the quotation it would read: doi: 10.1000/182

(b) Books: Author. Title Subtitle. Edition. Publication site (city): publisher, year; pages or volume.

(c) Website: Author of the page (person or organization) (Internet). Date of copyright or last update, if unknown, put n.a. Web site title. (Accessed: day, month, year). Available at: http://xxxx

Figures, legends and tables must be submitted as set forth in the section Process for the Submission of Original Articles.

With regard to abbreviations (abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms), care should be taken not to overuse them; they should apply the universal criterion and be included only when the word is repeated, to facilitate reading. They will appear in the abstract in Spanish and in the text the first time they are mentioned in each of them. They should not appear in the English abstract nor in the summary in Portuguese or in titles and subtitles.

These are articles in which the authors express their opinion on topics related to their professional practice, public health, bioethics, medical humanities or any other considered of interest to readers. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position of the EB.

These include presentations of case reports and tests/images of interest. They may have a maximum of six authors, four graphic elements (tables, graphs or images) and six bibliographical references. The front page must be presented like the front page of the original articles. It should include keywords and a brief and unstructured abstract in Spanish, English and Portuguese, highlighting why the case is of interest. The article should not exceed 1,500 words.

Important: Scientific letters requires an informed consent of the patient, available in the annex informed consent.

They are generated as a response to an invitation of the EB or by initiative of the authors approved by the EB. Review articles refer to a topic related to cardiovascular issues (e.g., physiological aspect, pathology, clinical situation, technique, drug, controversy, etc.) and makes a critical selection and interpretation of the evidence available.

Just like the original articles, they should include: (1) Title page. (2) Abstract and keywords in Spanish, English and Portuguese. (3) Text. (4) Bibliography. (5) Figures and tables (if applicable). The text should include the following sections: (a) Introduction. (b) Review of the topic. (c) Conclusions. The length of the text should not exceed 7,000 words, with a maximum of 50 bibliographic citations.

The objective is to communicate the preliminary results of ongoing studies or clinical case series. The Editorial Board may suggest that an article submitted as an Original be published as a short article or brief communication. It will have a maximum of 6 authors, 2,000 words (excluding abstract and bibliography), 15 references, 2 tables and 2 figures.

They include communications on topics related to the SUC, the scientific and biomedical community in general, public health, or comments on articles published in the RUC or in other publications, as well as topics related to scientific knowledge or personal opinions on topics of medical practice. The maximum length will be 2,000 words.

These controversy articles focus on areas of knowledge in which the best diagnostic or therapeutic procedures are not fully defined and allow for more than one option.

The EB invites two or more authors, indicating the topic to be developed by each; the authors receive clinical case that gives rise to such controversy. Likewise, the controversy may be generated from the analysis of clinical trials.

After receiving the articles, the EB will forward them “crossed” to the authors so that they can consider the arguments of the other party and draft their conclusions.

Each complete manuscript (abstract and keywords in Spanish, English and Portuguese, clinical case analysis and response) may have a maximum of 2,000 words and 10 bibliographic references.

The article will include an unstructured abstract and keywords in Spanish, English and Portuguese, introduction, description of the technique, discussion and brief conclusions. It will have a maximum of 2000 words, 6 figures and 15 bibliographical references.

Its objective is to update a relevant topic of the specialty, including the most novel, controversial or transcendental aspects of daily practice.

The EB will invite an expert on the subject to act as associate editor, the expert is to choose the authors of the different chapters, trying to include national and foreign authors.

The EB must approve the preliminary index that will be sent by the associate editor in the month of March of the year of publication.

The EB may authorize the publication of articles in formats other than those foreseen, such as special articles and editorial comments, longer than the maximum length set forth above, if they consider it of interest to the journal or biomedical community. For queries, requests for complementary information and advice for the presentation of articles, authors may write to the e-mail address bibliosuc@adinet.com.uy.

Informed consent for scientific letters

Uruguayan Journal of Cardiology

I hereby ……………………………………………………. give consent for the material presented by me, by my relative or my representative to be published in the UJC as a scientific letter.

It has been explained to me that it has strictly scientific and/or educational value, and that its publication may help improve the assistance of other people in the future.

I have been assured that my personal patronymic, clinical, laboratory or genetic data and images of my body (partial or total) will be kept anonymous, respecting confidentiality and professional secrecy.

Finally, I declare that neither my consent nor the material included in it may be canceled or invalid once the article is approved for publication.

Patient's signature: ........................................

Signature of the person explaining and administering the form: ........................................

Date: ........................................