Editorial Policies

Aims and Scope

Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS) is an Open Access peer reviewed scientific journal for exchange of knowledge and data in the growing field of mechanical circulatory support and its long-term consequences for the patients and their relatives.

Aims: The development over the past decade of machines and devices to support or even substitute various organs of critically ill patients, particularly the heart and/or lungs, has been amazing. Technologies, such as ECMO and various ventricular support devices, now function so well that their very success is causing new and usual problems related to the effects of prolonged mechanical and extra-corporeal support. Chronic disease management for this completely new group of patients is a new challenge, just as health care providers will now need to be able to master the technical details, and device-human interactions, and even device-device interactions of the various mechanical devices available and under development. We are also witnessing a host of new psychosocial problems for the patients as their everyday life becomes dependent on mechanical circulatory support.

MCS aims to become the primary publishing outlet for the new and rapidly growing area of research that has arisen in the wake of the capability of modern mechanical circulatory support devices to keep patients alive longer and longer. This electronic Journal will focus on those aspects of both short-term and long-term support, and will hope to span both pediatric and adult topics.

Scope:

Short-term support (ECMO, L/R/Biventricular devices)

Long-term support (L/R/Biventricular)

  • Destination therapy
  • Bridge to Transplant
  • Bridge to Decision Making
  • Bridge to Recovery


Issues Related to Mechanical Support:

  • Infectious
  • Pharmacologic
  • Non-cardiac/chronic disease management
  • Device mechanical issues (geared towards heath-care providers)
  • Social/financial aspects of support
  • Post-operative management (acute/critical care)

 

Section Policies

Editorials

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Invited Editorials

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Review Articles

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Invited Review Articles

Unchecked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Clinical Research Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Basic Science Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Case Reports

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Case Series

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Patient Experiences

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Commentaries

Checked Open Submissions Unchecked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

How to Do it

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Pearls and Pitfalls

Checked Open Submissions Unchecked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed

Images

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Unusual Indications/Applications

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Letters to the Editor

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Unchecked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

Papers submitted to Mechanical Circulatory Support are subject to rigorous peer review so as to ensure that the research published is 'good science'.

All manuscripts will undergo preliminary evaluation at the editorial level and those judged to be of significant importance will subsequently be peer reviewed by two or more experts. The Editors will see the papers through peer review to acceptance or rejection.

Manuscripts are sent out for review electronically, and all correspondence takes place via e-mail. Mechanical Circulatory Support has a 'double blind' review process: Authors are not told who reviewed their paper, and reviewers are not told who wrote the paper. Peer reviewers are informed of the identity of the authors immediately after the manuscript is either accepted or rejected. The referees’ identity remains unknown to the authors although it is up to the referee if he/she wants to contact the author at a later stage and reveal his/her identity.

Peer reviewers are asked to give their opinion on a number of issues pertinent to the scientific and formal aspects of a paper, and to judge the papers on grounds of originality and urgency. All relevant information will be forwarded to the author(s).

Peer reviewers will have six possible options, for each article:

  1. Accept manuscript (i.e. no need for any revision)
  2. Accept after revision (i.e. accepted if the author makes the requested revisions)
  3. Revise and resubmit (i.e. accepted or rejected after revisions have been made - paper will be sent out for another peer review round)
  4. Submit elsewhere (i.e. if the manuscript is better suited for another journal)
  5. Reject manuscript (i.e. if the manuscript is substandard)
  6. See comments (i.e. if the reviewer cannot choose from any of the above)

 

When asking for revisions, reviewers have two possible goals: to ask authors to tighten their arguments based on existing data, or to identify areas where more data are needed. Even formal revision may be required if the language or formalities is sub-standard. To facilitate rapid publication, authors are given a maximum of 2 months for revision. After 2 months, revised manuscripts will be considered new submissions.

 

Publication Frequency

All articles published in Mechanical Circulatory Support are posted online immediately as they are ready for publication, i.e. after final proofreading. The journal does not collate numbered issues published regularly but all articles will be assigned a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier) whereby they become searchable and citeable without delay.

 

Open Access Policy

Open Access
Mechanical Circulatory Support is published under the Open Access model and is therefore free for anybody to read and download, and to copy and disseminate for educational purposes. Articles will be published immediately after the final corrections of the master proof have been made. When posted online, articles will be assigned a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier) whereby it becomes possible to search and cite them without delay.

Mechanical Circulatory Support is accessible via the journal’s website at http://www.mechanicalcirculatorysupport.net as well as via international search engines such as Google Scholar.

Under the Open Access model authors retain copyright. See copyright section.

 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration.

In addition, all files will be archived with CLOCKSS and Portico.

 

Authors Self-Archiving

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post items submitted to this journal on personal or institutional websites, prior to and after publication (while providing the bibliographic details of that publication).

 

Publication fee

Publication of an Article up to 8 typeset A4 pages incurs a charge of $295, excl. VAT (Europe), or $400 (rest of the world). Articles exceeding 8 typeset pages may incur an additional charge of €25/$35 per page.

The publication of a Short Communication up to 4 typeset pages incurs a charge of €185 excl. VAT (Europe) or $250 (rest of the world). Articles exceeding 4 typeset pages may incur an additional charge of €25/$35 per page.

The total sum will be charged to the author(s) upon acceptance of his/her article.

For a list of universities/institutes and funders supporting Open Access publication, please see here. Additional information on how to claim reimbursement/support for publication fees can be found here.

Open Access Key

As a Co-Action Publishing author you are now able to manage your publication fee using Open Access Key (OAK).

Co-Action Publishing is one of the first publishers in the world to implement OAK, a unique new online payment platform designed to manage and consolidate author publication fees and connect authors to their universities, research funders or learned societies. To register and start using Open Access Key, please visit http://www.openaccesskey.com


 

Indexing

Mechanical Circulatory Support is indexed/tracked/covered by the following services: Google Scholar, JournalSeek, Open J-Gate, ProQuest Summon

The Publisher is currently working actively to have Mechanical Circulatory Support indexed/covered/tracked by major indexing services such as PubMed and PubMed Central, and will also try to achieve indexing with ISI Thomson's Web of Knowledge (to attain an impact factor) and MEDLINE as soon as the volume of content and other criteria are met.

Material in Mechanical Circulatory Support is distributed by EBSCO, one of the world's largest content aggregators and research database providers.

 

Commercial reprints and advertising

If you wish to purchase reprints for commercial distribution, arrange for a supplement, or e-advertise on the Mechanical Circulatory Support website, please contact:

Caroline Sutton, Sales & Marketing Director
Email: caroline.sutton@co-action.net
Tel (SkypeIn): +46 18 495 11 26
Tel (cell): +47 90 69 05 06




Mechanical Circulatory Support eISSN 2000-6993

This journal is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. Responsible editor: Michael Firstenberg.