AIMS AND SCOPE

World Journal of Cardiology (World J Cardiol, WJC, online ISSN 1949-8462, DOI: 10.4330) is a monthly peer-reviewed, online, open-access (OA), journal supported by an editorial board consisting of 350 experts in cardiology from 41 countries.

The biggest advantage of the OA model is that it provides free, full-text articles in PDF and other formats for experts and the public without registration, which eliminates the obstacle that traditional journals possess and usually delays the speed of the propagation and communication of scientific research results. The open access model has been proven to be a true approach that may achieve the ultimate goal of the journals, i.e. the maximization of the value to the readers, authors and society.

The role of academic journals is to exhibit the scientific levels of a country, a university, a center, a department, and even a scientist, and build an important bridge for communication between scientists and the public. As we all know, the significance of the publication of scientific articles lies not only in disseminating and communicating innovative scientific achievements and academic views, as well as promoting the application of scientific achievements, but also in formally recognizing the "priority" and "copyright" of innovative achievements published, as well as evaluating research performance and academic levels. So, to realize these desired attributes of WJC and create a well-recognized journal, the following four types of personal benefits should be maximized. The maximization of personal benefits refers to the pursuit of the maximum personal benefits in a well-considered optimal manner without violation of the laws, ethical rules and the benefits of others. (1) Maximization of the benefits of editorial board members: The primary task of editorial board members is to give a peer review of an unpublished scientific article via online office system to evaluate its innovativeness, scientific and practical values and determine whether it should be published or not. During peer review, editorial board members can also obtain cutting-edge information in that field at first hand. As leaders in their field, they have priority to be invited to write articles and publish commentary articles. We will put peer reviewers’ names and affiliations along with the article they reviewed in the journal to acknowledge their contribution; (2) Maximization of the benefits of authors: Since WJC is an open-access journal, readers around the world can immediately download and read, free of charge, high-quality, peer-reviewed articles from WJC official website, thereby realizing the goals and significance of the communication between authors and peers as well as public reading; (3) Maximization of the benefits of readers: Readers can read or use, free of charge, high-quality peer-reviewed articles without any limits, and cite the arguments, viewpoints, concepts, theories, methods, results, conclusion or facts and data of pertinent literature so as to validate the innovativeness, scientific and practical values of their own research achievements, thus ensuring that their articles have novel arguments or viewpoints, solid evidence and correct conclusion; and (4) Maximization of the benefits of employees: It is an iron law that a first-class journal is unable to exist without first-class editors, and only first-class editors can create a first-class academic journal. We insist on strengthening our team cultivation and construction so that every employee, in an open, fair and transparent environment, could contribute their wisdom to edit and publish high-quality articles, thereby realizing the maximization of the personal benefits of editorial board members, authors and readers, and yielding the greatest social and economic benefits.

The major task of WJC is to rapidly report the most recent developments in the research by the cardiologists. WJC accepts papers on the following aspects related to cardiology: arrhythmias, heart failure, vascular disease, stroke, hypertension, prevention and epidemiology, dyslipidemia and metabolic disorders, cardiac imaging, paediatrics, nursing, and health promotion. We also encourage papers that cover all other areas of cardiology as well as basic research.

The columns in the issues of WJC will include: (1) Editorial: To introduce and comment on major advances and developments in the field; (2) Frontier: To review representative achievements, comment on the state of current research, and propose directions for future research; (3) Topic Highlight: This column consists of three formats, including (A) 10 invited review articles on a hot topic, (B) a commentary on common issues of this hot topic, and (C) a commentary on the 10 individual articles; (4) Observation: To update the development of old and new questions, highlight unsolved problems, and provide strategies on how to solve the questions; (5) Guidelines for Basic Research: To provide Guidelines for basic research; (6) Guidelines for Clinical Practice: To provide guidelines for clinical diagnosis and treatment; (7) Review: To review systemically progress and unresolved problems in the field, comment on the state of current research, and make suggestions for future work; (8) Original Articles: To report innovative and original findings in cardiology; (9) Brief Articles: To briefly report the novel and innovative findings in cardiology; (10) Case Report: To report a rare or typical case; (11) Letters to the Editor: To discuss and make reply to the contributions published in WJC, or to introduce and comment on a controversial issue of general interest; (12) Book Reviews: To introduce and comment on quality monographs of cardiology; and (13) Guidelines: To introduce Consensuses and Guidelines reached by international and national academic authorities worldwide on the research in cardiology.

NAME OF JOURNAL

World Journal of Cardiology

ISSN

ISSN 1949-8462 (online)

FREQUENCY

Bimonthly

LANGUAGE

English

LAUNCH DATE

December 31, 2009

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Raúl Moreno, MD, Director of Interventional Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, Hospital La Paz, Paseo La Castellana, 261, 28041 Madrid, Spain. raulmorenog@terra.es

Victor L Serebruany, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, President, HeartDrug™ Research Laboratories, Osler Medical Center, 7600 Osler Drive, Suite 307, Towson, MD 21204, United States. heartdrug@aol.com

EDITING

Editorial Board of World Journal of Cardiology,

Room 903, Building D,

Ocean InternationalCenter,

No. 62 Dongsihuan Zhonglu,

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100025, China

Telephone: +86-10-8538-1892

Fax: +86-10-8538-1893

E-mail: wjc@wjgnet.com

http://www.wjgnet.com

PUBLISHER

Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited

Room 1701, 17/F, Henan Bulding,

No. 90 Jaffe Road, Wanchai,

Hong Kong, China

Fax: +852-3115-8812

Telephone: +852-5804-2046

E-mail: bpg@baishideng.comhttp://www.wjgnet.com

PUBLICATION FEE

WJC is an international, peer-reviewed, OA, online journal. Articles published by this journal are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. Authors of accepted case report must pay a publication fee. The related standards are as follows. Publication fee: 1300 USD per article; Reprints fee: 350 USD per 100 reprints, including postage cost. Editorial, topic highlights, original articles, book reviews and letters to the editor are published free of charge.

SPECIAL STATEMENT

All articles published in this journal represent the viewpoints of the authors except where indicated otherwise.