Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia (Arq Bras Cardiol), the official journal of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology, publishes articles on cardiovascular topics, after review by its Editorial Board. Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia is a monthly publication, indexed in the Cumulated Index Medicus, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. By submitting a manuscript, the authors are indicating that the work has not been published, simultaneously submitted, or accepted for publication by any other journal. All authors must have read and approved the manuscript and be able to defend its contents. When a manuscript is accepted for publication, it becomes the sole property of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology, and no part of it may be used without written permission from the Society.

Only those manuscripts prepared in strict accordance with the rules specified below will be referred to the Editorial Board.

The following rules are in conformity with the 5th edition of the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors – N Engl J Med 1997; 336: 309-315. The observance of these rules is mandatory for the work to be considered for peer review. The manuscripts should be sent according to the following:

Submissions should be sent through the internet, following detailed instructions available at http://publicacoes.cardiol.br/abc at the site of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology. You will be required to inform: a) name, address, telephone and e-mail address of the corresponding author; b) that the authors possess written permission from all patients involved in experimental investigations and that the study protocol has been approved by the competent local ethics committee; c) the section of the journal that you wish to submit the manuscript to; d) that the corresponding author assumes full responsibility for the content of the manuscript on behalf of all co-authors and that any potential conflict of interest has been disclosed in writing; e) all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript and fulfil the criteria for authorship of scientific contributions. According to the Uniform Requirements, cited above, to fulfil the criteria of authorship (including co-authors) a substantial contribution is required in: conception, design or analysis and interpretation of the data; writing or critical review of significant intellectual content of the manuscript.

The manuscript should be typed in Word for Windows 6.0 or a newer version (including tables and, if possible, also figures). Manuscripts accepted for publication may undergo a new editorial review for conciseness of language, clarity and understanding, which will not interfere with the meaning of the text. The corresponding author will receive 20 offprints of the article free of charge.

Sections of Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia:

– Original Article – includes new investigations, clinical or surgical experiments, or other original contributions.

– State of the Art – describes a current approach to a certain topic in cardiology, usually solicited by the journal. It should include a summary. Occasionally, a spontaneous state-of-the-art article sent by an author may be accepted for publication.

– Editorial – a critical and in-depth comment prepared by experts on a particular topic. It is usually solicited by the journal and may not be related to another article being published, with a maximum of 1000 words and 15 references

– Case Report – presentation of peculiar cases and brief comments on them, including a summary, with a maximum of 6 pages and 10 bibliographic references.

– Brief Comments – descriptions of short original experiments, also containing a summary, and no longer than 6 pages and 10 bibliographic references.

– Point of View – discussion of particular aspects of a certain subject, especially those that are controversial, stating only the author’s opinion, based, whenever possible, on his/her own already published experiences or on the opinions of others found in the literature.

– Letters to the Editor – observations about recently published topics, with the possibility of generating a response to the author in question, or observations about any cardiovascular topic of common interest.

– Clinicopathologic session – a detailed description of a case of general interest including discussion of its clinical, laboratorial, and pathological aspects, in order to stimulate the reader in the development of correlation between clinical-laboratorial and pathological findings.

– "ABC" Images – unusual aspects of cardiology presented in the form of images to facilitate understanding and presentation.

– "ABC" Symposiums – a review of a cardiology topic under the coordination of an invited guest and participation of different experienced professionals.

The Original Manuscript should be sent as follows:

1 – Title page consisting of:

1.1 – Concise and informative title in Portuguese and English.

1.2 – The name of the authors or institutions should not be present in any part of the body of the manuscript in order to obtain the most impartial judgement by the reviewers, based only on the article itself .

2 – A structured abstract limited to 250 words, conforming to the following 4 headings: a) Objective; b) Methods; c) Results; d) Conclusion. The elaboration should allow understanding without access to the text, including abbreviated words.

3 – Abstract in English, on a separate page.

4 – The Introduction should be concise, should avoid an extensive review, and should explain the essential points of the theme and the objective of the study based on references from the literature.

5 – The Methods should include a description of the study’s design, the selection criteria and a description of the group studied, methods used during the various stages of research (equipment, procedures, drugs, etc.), ethics, and a statistical analysis.

6 – The Results should, whenever possible, be subdivided into sections for greater clarity of exposition and supported by a number of diagrams, tables, charts, and figures, which should supplement—not repeat - the information already in the text.

7 – The Discussion should be directly related to the topic and supported by the literature, emphasizing the new and significant aspects of the study, its implications and limitations. The last paragraph should express conclusions or, if pertinent, recommendations and clinical implications.

8 – The Acknowledgments, if desired, should come at the end of the text, with mention of the names of participants who contributed intellectually or technically in any phase of the study but do not fulfill the requirements for authorship.

9 – The References should be mentioned whenever effectively consulted, in Arabic numerals in the text. The reference list should be arranged numerically according to the order of mention in the text, using the abbreviations for journal names recommended by the Uniform Requirements, as per the example below. Cite all authors up to 6 or only the first 3 followed by et al, if there are 7 or more.

9.1 – The order of information should be: Last names and initials of all authors (if 7 or more, only the first 3 followed by et al). Title of the article. Abbreviated name of the journal Year; Volume: first-last pages.

Example:

Lamas GA, Flaker GC, Mitchell G, et al. Effect of infarct artery patency on prognosis after acute myocardial infarction. Circulation 1995; 92: 1101-9.

For the style of other references, consult the Uniform Requirements. The citation of unpublished data or of personal communications should not constitute a numbered reference. It should only be alluded to in the text and placed in parentheses.

10 – The figure legends should be typed on a separate page, with a short, clear title, and a brief description of the major points to provide a clear understanding of the figure. The figure legend page should follow the last page of the references.

11 – The illustrations should be mentioned in the text in Arabic numerals (if figures) or Roman numerals (if tables or charts). They should be limited to a minimum, just enough for the best communication. The tables and charts should be self-explanatory, numbered according to the order of mention in the text and should include the respective titles. The legend should appear at the bottom.

11.1 – The figures should allow a graphic reproduction of good quality. Figures and images should be inserted in the text of the manuscript in low resolution to minimize file size and facilitate transit of the data through the internet. After manuscript approval the authors will be contacted to obtain best quality images for final publication. The publication of colored figures is restricted to situations where the colors are essential. The final decision and selection of the figures are up to the editor.