Journal of Innovation in Cardiac Rhythm Management

Author Guidelines

The Journal of Innovations in Cardiac Rhythm Management (JICRM) is an international, open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed clinical journal that is published 12 times per year that has been in continuous publication since 2010. Its editor-in-chief is Moussa Mansour, MD, Director of the Atrial Fibrillation Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, USA. JICRM has complete editorial independence from its owner and publisher, MediaSphere Medical, LLC.

Logo PubMed Indexed

JICRM is currently indexed in PubMed Central, Scopus, Embase, CrossRef, Google Scholar, and OCLC WorldCat.

JICRM is complimentary to read and complimentary to publish in.

Print ISSN: 2156-3977
Online ISSN: 2156-3993

Download the Publishing Agreement Form
Download the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
Download the Ethics Statement Form
Download the Patient Consent Form

Submit your manuscript to Editorial Manager
For assistance contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Instructions

General Information

JICRM will consider original research, research review, case studies, letters to the editor, and invited commentaries on the subject of cardiac electrophysiology, with a focus on practical application and/or utility in practice.

Please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for assistance in determining whether your manuscript is appropriate for potential publication in JICRM. Please see Manuscript Development Resources for more information on putting together your manuscript files for submission.

Authors interested in submitting a manuscript for consideration should visit our Editorial Manager page.

Editorial Policies

Statements and opinions expressed within articles and other written material published within the journal are solely the author’s purview and are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. Both invited and unsolicited submissions will receive the same level of scrutiny and consideration.

All manuscripts submitted for consideration of publication must include, on a separate title page:

  • Title
  • Author names and affiliations
  • Corresponding author contact information
  • Keywords
  • Abstract
  • Authorship statement
  • Original submission declaration
  • Conflicts of interest information for all authors
  • Funding/support information
  • Information on the relevant ethical approvals or informed consent procedures.

When uploading your manuscript to Editorial Manager for peer review, please include the title page as a file separate from the manuscript, a manuscript file without identifying author information including study institutions, the Publishing Agreement form, and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)’s Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. The Patient Consent Form should also be included when appropriate.

Please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for assistance in submitting your manuscript for peer review.

Please see Rights, Permissions, and Ethics below for further details.

Peer Review

To submit an article for consideration of publication, please visit our Editorial Manager page to begin the submission and peer review process.

JICRM employs a double-blind peer review process. All articles submitted for peer review are examined by a minimum of two peer reviewers. Acceptance is based on significance, originality, quality, and educational value. Revisions may be requested prior to a manuscript being accepted for publication and will be reviewed by the same peer reviewers prior to a decision being rendered to ensure reasonable compliance, and manuscripts may be returned again for further revisions as necessary. Issues that arise will be addressed with input from the publisher and/or editor-in-chief as necessary.

Please see JICRM’s Peer Reviewer Instructions and Peer Review Process for further information.

Rights, Permissions, and Ethics

Ethics in Publishing

JICRM is committed to maintaining and following the highest standards of publication ethics and to supporting ethical research practices. To this end, JICRM adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/) Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers. We encourage journal editors to follow the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors and to refer peer reviewers to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers as appropriate. Allegations of misconduct will be investigated in accordance with the COPE Best Practice Guidelines. We encourage journal editors and staff to inform JICRM as soon as possible if faced with a potential breach of publication ethics. JICRM staff are trained in how to proceed with investigations into allegations of ethical misconduct and will seek legal counsel when necessary.

Authors may use may use their desired ethics generator tool or download JICRM’s Ethics Statement Form here to help design the ethics statement for their manuscript. Ethics statement information should be included in the title page file of the manuscript and can be included in the body of the manuscript where appropriate.

All individuals submitting manuscripts are to abide by established publishing standards and ethics. In proven cases of misconduct, the resulting action(s) taken can vary amongst the following:

  • Retraction of published work
  • Publication of a correction or statement of concern
  • Notification of misconduct sent to an author’s local institution, superior, and/or ethics committee

Authorship

Authorship confers credit to the named individual(s) and has important academic, social, and financial implications. Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for the published work. Authors who meet the four authorship criteria of the requirements for authorship of the International Committee on Medical Journal Ethics (ICJME) should be included as authors of submitted manuscripts. Those contributors who meet fewer than all four authorship criteria should not be listed as authors and may instead be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript. Changes to the authorship list after manuscript submission for peer review can be directed to the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Please note that such a request may result in a query from the publisher as to the reasoning.

AI Policy

AI/ChatGPT may be used to assist authors with manuscript refinement (e.g., identifying typos, improving phrasing) but not as a replacement for the author’s own efforts to create their manuscript. In accordance with the COPE position statement (https://publicationethics.org/cope-position-statements/ai-author), any authors who use AI in manuscript writing, image production, or data collection or analysis must disclose this in the Materials and Methods section (or similar section) of their paper. JICRM additionally adopts as its policy COPE’s view that AI tools cannot be listed as authors on papers. Finally, JICRM agrees with COPE that authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript and thus liable for any breach of publication ethics carried out by an AI tool.

Submission Declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis, or as an electronic preprint); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that its publication with JICRM is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out; and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere, including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of MediaSphere Medical.

Use of Inclusive Language

The use of inclusive language demonstrates the acknowledgement of diversity and respect for all people. Articles should not make or contain baseless or inappropriate assumptions about either readers or study populations; should strive to be free from bias and discrimination with regard to race, sex, culture, or other such characteristics; and should use inclusive language throughout (eg, “he or she” or “they” vs. only “he” where appropriate).

Conflicts of Interest Statement

All authors must disclose detailed information about all relevant financial interests, activities, relationships, and affiliations including, but not limited to: employment; affiliation; funding and grants received or pending; consultancies; honoraria or payment; speakers' bureaus; stock ownership or options; expert testimony; royalties; donation of medical equipment; or patents planned, pending, or issued.

Funding/Support and the Role of the Funder/Sponsor

At the time of submission, information on any relevant funding sources must also be supplied. Any role of the funding organization or sponsor in any of the following should be specified, if applicable: design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and/or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

JICRM requires the complete disclosure of all relevant financial relationships and potential financial conflicts of interest, regardless of amount or value. Authors should report how the article is funded or a statement that there was no involvement of any company (if this is the case). For example, authors of a manuscript about atrial fibrillation should report all financial relationships they have with all manufacturers and owners of products, devices, tests, and services used in the management of atrial fibrillation, not only those relationships with entities whose specific products, devices, tests, and services are mentioned in the manuscript.

Ethical Approval of Studies and Informed Consent

For all manuscripts reporting data from studies involving human participants or animals, formal review and approval or formal review and waiver by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee is required and should be described in the Methods section. For those investigators who do not have formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed. For investigations of humans, state in the Methods section the manner in which informed consent was provided by the study participants (ie, verbal or written) and whether participants received a stipend. Editors may request that the authors provide documentation of the formal review and recommendation from the institutional review board or ethics committee responsible for oversight of the study prior to manuscript acceptance or publication. Please refer to your institutional ethics guidelines as appropriate.

A signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) patient descriptions, photographs, and videos should be obtained from all persons (parents or legal guardians for minors) who can be identified (including by the patients themselves) in such written descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees and should be submitted with the manuscript. Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published. Specific permission for facial photographs of patients is required. A letter of consent must accompany the photographs of patients in which a possibility of identification exists. It is not sufficient to cover the eyes to mask identity.

The Patient Consent Form for publication of identifying material is available here.

When a product has not yet been approved by an appropriate regulatory body for the use described in the manuscript, the author should specify that the product is not approved for the use under discussion, or that the product is still investigational.

All manuscripts where relevant must include a statement that the study was approved by an Investigational Review Board (Human Studies Committee or Ethics Committee or Animal Care and Use Committee), if applicable. Institutional Review Board review resources can be found here: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/assurances/irb/. Additional ethics and consent resources can be found here: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/protection-of-research-participants.html

Statement of Human and Animal Rights

When reporting studies that involve human participants, authors should include a statement that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. If doubt exists as to whether the research was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or comparable standards, the authors must explain the reasons for their approach and demonstrate that the independent ethics committee or institutional review board explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.

The welfare of animals used for research must also be respected. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals have been followed and that the studies have been approved by a research ethics committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted (in places where such a committee exists).

Clinical Trials

In accordance with the position of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the journal will not consider results posted in the same clinical trials registry in which primary registration resides to be a prior publication if the results posted are presented in the form of a brief structured (ie, less than 500 words) abstract or table. However, divulging results in other circumstances (eg, investors' meetings) is discouraged and may jeopardize consideration of the manuscript. Authors should fully disclose all posting in registries of results of the same or of closely related work.

Also, per the ICMJE, registration in a public trials registry is a condition for the publication of clinical trials in this journal (http://icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/clinical-trial-registration.html). Trials must be registered at or before the onset of patient enrollment. When applicable, the clinical trial registration number should be included at the end of the abstract of the article. The registration of all clinical trials helps to facilitate the dissemination of information among clinicians, researchers and patients and also enhance the public confidence in the research enterprise.

Copyright, Permissions, and Author Rights

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted material, such as images. Permission to reuse copyrighted content can be requested through Copyright Clearance Center. If further assistance is needed, please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

JICRM is an open-access journal that does not collect any submission, subscription, page, color, cover, or open-access fees from authors due to sponsorship. The review process is stringent and efficient. A properly completed and signed Publishing Agreement Form must be submitted with each manuscript upon submission. Authors’ articles are freely accessible to all interested individuals online within 30 days of print publication.

JICRM offers its content under the Creative Commons CC-BY license. Further clarification regarding the terms of this license can be requested from the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by viewing information on the different types of licenses offered by Creative Commons.

NIH/Wellcome-funded authors may submit their funded work to PMC/Europe PMC themselves, providing they submit only the final peer-reviewed manuscript that was accepted for publication (ie, post-print; this manuscript must not be altered further by any additional copyediting and typesetting service) and while observing the 12-month (NIH) or six-month (Wellcome Trust) embargo period after final publication.

Authors are welcome to deposit their final published articles in institutional repositories.

Advertising Policy

JICRM is not dominated by advertisements, and advertising does not influence editorial decisions. The journal prohibits the selling of advertisements intended to be juxtaposed with editorial content on the same or a related product for the purpose of promoting a specific product. Advertisements are clearly identifiable as advertisements. Editors have full and final authority for approving print and online advertisements and for enforcing advertising policies.

JICRM does not carry advertisements for products proven to be seriously harmful to human health. Editors ensure that existing regulatory or industry standards for advertisements are enforced. The interests of organizations or agencies do not control classified and other nondisplay advertising, except where required by law. Editors consider all criticisms of advertisements for publication.

Manuscript Development Resources

Manuscript Development Resources

Manuscript Types

Original Research

  • Presents original research. Other submissions in this area can discuss economic policy, ethics, law, and health care delivery.
  • Word limit: 5,000 words; references limit: no limit; figures and tables limit: no limit.

Research Review

  • Should be comprehensive and balanced, presenting an expert curation about a particular topic
  • Should specify the methods used to search for, select, synthesize, and summarize the information.
  • Word limit: 6,000 words; references limit: 75; figures and tables limit: not required but can be included.

Complex Case Study

  • Reports on new therapies, new complications of therapies, or new mechanisms of a disease in the context of a patient case.
  • Word limit: 3,000 words; references limit: 30; figures and tables limit: 10.

Images in Cardiac EP

  • Images are judged according to their visual quality, relevance, importance, uniqueness and effectiveness of their message, and applicability as an educational resource.
  • Word limit: 2,000 words; references limit: 20; figures and tables limit: 5.

Interesting Electrocardiograms/Tracing of the Month

  • Enables clinicians to submit images showing interesting ECG cases, Holter recordings, and monitor strips. Algorithmic or ladder diagrams are also permitted.
  • Word limit: 2,000 words; references limit: 20; figures and tables limit: 5.

Letter to the Editor

  • Letters should be submitted within four weeks of the article’s online publication. Letters must not duplicate other material published or submitted for publication, and should not include unpublished data. Letters will be published at the discretion of the editors and are subject to review, abridgement, and editing for style and content.
  • Word limit: 1,500 words; references limit: 10 (one must be the recent article in question); figures and tables limit: not required.

Fellows Innovations

  • Provides residents, fellows, and trainees in the area of cardiac electrophysiology with a space to share their research and case studies.
  • Word limit: 2,000 words; references limit: 30; figures and tables limit: 10.

Examples of Reference Style

  • Journal Article
    1. Youngster I, Russell GH, Pindar C, Ziv-Baran T, Sauk J, Hohmann EL. Oral, capsulized, frozen fecal microbiota transplantation for relapsing Clostridium difficile infection. JAMA. 2014;312(17):1772-1778.
    2. Nicholson WJ, Tuohy KA, Tilkemeier P, et al. Twiddler’s syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2003;348(17):1726–1727.
  • Electronic Resource
    1. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS implements certain disclosure provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Available at: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/cms-implements-certain-disclosure-provisions-affordable-care-act. Accessed March 1, 2013.
  • Book
    1. McPhee SJ, Winker MA, Rabow MW, Pantilat SZ, Markowitz AJ, eds. Care at the Close of Life: Evidence and Experience. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Medical; 2011.

Figures

Any figures that are submitted (line drawings, halftones, photos, graphics, etc.) should be digital files that follow these guidelines:

  • High-resolution TIFF, EPS or PSD files are preferred. JPG or JPEG are also accepted.
  • ≥ 350 ppi
  • ≥ 1200 ppi for line art
  • Figure legends should be no more than 50 words, and should be typed separately from the figure images and placed in the main text document after the References section.
  • Each figure must be numbered and cited in the text as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc (not Fig. 1 or Fig2). In-text citations should be sup Arabic numerals, without brackets or parentheses, located outside sentence punctuation.
  • Regarding file naming of figure images, figures should be saved as clearly-named files so that they can easily be identified, ie, Fig 1.tif, Figure 1.jpg, or Fig2.tiff.
  • Include magnification, stain, and other pertinent data where applicable.

Tables

  • Tables should aim to be supplemental or to clarify the text in some manner.
  • Brief titles should be numbered using Arabic numerals (Table 1, Table 2) according to the order in which they are mentioned in the text.
  • Each table should be typed on a separate page and designed for economy of space and readability. File submission formats can include .doc, .docx, or .pptx.
  • Notes designated in the tables and all abbreviations should be defined in a footnote. Abbreviations should be identified in the order of their use in the table.
  • All labelling should be clear and legible.

Drug Names and Dosing Information

Use the generic drug name in text, and include in parentheses any trade names that would be more recognizable to clinicians. If a specific trade name is referred to, include the manufacturer’s information. Any drug-dosing information included in the manuscript should be composed of dose, frequency, route, and the length of time the drug was administered. If available, proprietary names should be given at first mention along with the nonproprietary name.

Manufacturer Information for Equipment, Devices, and Reagents

Authors should include the manufacturer or supplier, and location (city, state where applicable, and country) in parentheses, after the name or description of the product. ie, “Bulldog Lead Extender (Cook Medical, Bloomington, IN, USA)” or “a continuous ambulatory ECG recorder (Zio® Patch; iRhythm Technologies, Inc., CA, USA).”

English Language Services

Upon request, MediaSphere Medical will direct authors to an agent who can check and improve the English of their paper before submission. Upon acceptance for publication, each paper will be put through the copyediting process. Please contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information.