About ACS

Aims and Scope

The Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery (ACS; Ann Cardiothorac Surg; Print ISSN 2225-319X; Online ISSN 2304-1021) is a bimonthly peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the field of cardiothoracic surgery. ACS is indexed in Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed.

From the outset, our aim has been to create authoritative collections of knowledge that integrate scientific evidence, clinical judgement, operative technique and surgical education, providing readers with comprehensive reference works on important areas of contemporary cardiothoracic surgery. ACS now publishes through two complementary pathways: selected invitation-only themed issues, led by internationally recognised Guest Editors with established expertise in the subject area, and open submissions across the full breadth of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.

By combining invitation-only themed issues with an open-submission pathway, ACS will retain the depth, authority and specialist focus for which it is known while becoming more responsive to important new evidence, ideas, technologies and developments across the specialty. For further information, please refer to:
https://www.annalscts.com/announcement/view/10230.

Across both pathways, ACS will retain the established article categories that have defined the journal, including Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses, Keynote Lectures, Featured Articles, Masters of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Art of Operative Techniques and Editorials. Together, these formats enable ACS to integrate rigorous evidence with expert interpretation, operative technique and multimedia surgical education.

What ACS is seeking
We welcome submissions that address important questions in contemporary cardiothoracic surgery and have the potential to influence clinical practice, advance knowledge or provide an authoritative reference for the field. We are particularly interested in work that:

  • provides an authoritative synthesis of important evidence;
  • addresses major areas of clinical uncertainty or controversy;
  • introduces meaningful surgical or technological innovation;
  • defines or informs contemporary best practice;
  • advances operative technique;
  • evaluates emerging therapies and technologies; or
  • provides knowledge that clinicians and researchers will return to as a reference.

We welcome contributions from internationally recognised experts, emerging academic surgeons, investigators and multidisciplinary research teams from around the world.

Whether the submission is a rigorous systematic review or meta-analysis, an authoritative state-of-the-art review, an important clinical investigation, an innovative operative technique or an outstanding surgical video, the standard remains the same: it should make a meaningful contribution to the advancement of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.

ACS is published by AME Publishing Company, with support from Wolters Kluwer (the journal content will be made available on Wolters Kluwer Health’s Lippincott and Ovid platforms).

Indexing

Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is indexed and covered by

Information for Authors

ACS is a member of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and it follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s guidelines and the ICMJE recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journal.

Manuscripts submitted must be the original work of the author(s) and must not be published previously or under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts Turnaround Time

  • In-house review: 1-3 weeks
  • External peer review: 1-3 months
  • Publication Ahead of Print: within 1 month after being accepted (with APC payment received)
  • Formal publication: within 1-3 months after being accepted (with APC payment received). Original Articles are listed as priority.

Publication Schedule

ACS follows a bimonthly publication mode.

Open Access Statement

The Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. All content of ACS is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). All articles published open-access will be immediately and permanently free for all to read, download, copy, and distribute as defined by the applied license.

Free access and usage

Permitted third party reuse is defined by the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. This license allows users to copy and distribute the article, provided:

  • this is not done for commercial purposes and further does not permit distribution of the Article if it is changed or edited in any way.
  • the user gives appropriate credit (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI) and provides a link to the license but not in an any way implying that the licensor is endorsing the user or the use of the work.
  • no derivatives including remix, transform, or build upon the material was allowed for distribution.

The full details of the license are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright

For open access publishing, this journal uses an exclusive licensing agreement. Authors will transfer copyright to AME Publishing Company, but will have the right to share their article in the same way permitted to third parties under the relevant user license, as well as certain scholarly usage rights.

For any inquiry on the copyright, commercial usage or adaptation of ACS articles, please contact: permissions@amegroups.com.
For reprint order, please contact: sales@amegroups.com

Contact with Editorial Office

Ronnie Wu, Corresponding Editor, Email: editor@annalscts.com

Publisher Information

ACS is published by AME Publishing Company.
Address: Flat/RM C 16F, Kings Wing Plaza 1, NO. 3 on Kwan Street, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China.