Published: 2026-10-09
For the past 14 years, the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery (ACS) has pursued a distinctive approach to academic publishing in our specialty.
Since our inaugural issue in May 2012, ACS has published 88 specialised themed issues, led by internationally recognised Guest Editors and bringing together many of the leading cardiothoracic surgeons, researchers and innovators from around the world.
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 our readers with comprehensive reference works on important areas of contemporary cardiothoracic surgery.
This model has helped establish ACS as a leading international specialist journal, with a global readership and a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.1.
ACS now welcomes open submissions
The Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery will now welcome open submissions across the full breadth of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.
This does not replace our themed issues. ACS will continue to publish selected themed issues under the leadership of internationally recognised Guest Editors. These themed issues will remain invitation-only, allowing us to bring together authoritative contributors to examine important and timely areas of cardiothoracic surgery in depth.
The open-submission pathway will sit alongside this established model. This represents an important evolution for ACS. It will allow the journal to consider high-quality work as it emerges, with greater breadth and responsiveness, and to publish important research, emerging evidence, new technologies and surgical innovation without requiring every manuscript to fall within a pre-planned themed issue. It will also provide cardiothoracic surgeons, investigators and multidisciplinary teams worldwide with a direct pathway to submit their work to ACS.
Preserving what makes ACS distinctive
As ACS evolves, the principles and editorial structure that have defined the journal will remain. We will continue to publish within our established categories:
- Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
- Keynote Lectures
- Featured Articles
- Masters of Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Art of Operative Techniques
- Editorials
These formats reflect an important principle of ACS: excellence in cardiothoracic surgery requires both a rigorous understanding of the evidence and mastery of its clinical and technical application.
Our multimedia sections, operative articles and expert contributions will therefore remain central to the journal. ACS will continue to provide an interface between evidence, innovation, clinical practice and operative technique—an approach that is particularly relevant to a procedural specialty such as ours.
What ACS is seeking
We invite submissions that address important questions and have the potential to advance 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 established experts, emerging academic surgeons, investigators and multidisciplinary research teams.
Whether the submission is a rigorous systematic review or meta-analysis, an authoritative state-of-the-art article, 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.
Building the next era of ACS
The themed-issue model will remain an important part of ACS. It has allowed us to examine major subjects in depth and to build strong international collaborations over many years.
By adding an open-submission pathway alongside our invitation-only themed issues, ACS can retain the depth, authority and specialist focus for which it is known, while becoming more responsive to new evidence, new ideas and new developments across cardiothoracic surgery.
We warmly invite colleagues around the world to submit their best work to the Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Professor Tristan D. Yan
Editor-in-Chief
Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery