Instruction to authors | mcardios-org

Proceedings of the Maltese Cardiac Society

Proceedings of the Maltese Cardiac Society is a yearly publication that brings together various publications by members of the Society relating to different aspects of cardiology.

Submissions and Text

Submissions to the Editor should comply with the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, as prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and available at www.icmje.org (formerly know as Vancouver format).

The abstract should not be more than 250 words, preferably in a common standard font such as Times New Roman or Courier. Special characters should be written (e.g. § as beta). Any measurements should be given in SI units, but commonly used units may be given in parenthesis. Generic names should be used for any medication with any trade names mentioned in parenthesis.

Statistical advice for contributors

The term p for p-values should be expressed in italic lower case.
The term n (italic, lower case) should only be used to refer to a sample of the whole eligible population, while N (italic, upper case) should only be used when referring to the whole eligible population.
95% confidence intervals for effect sizes (where available) should be presented in addition to p-values, and both should be given to 3 decimal places.
Means should preferably be expressed as "mean (95% CI)" rather than "mean ±SD" or "mean ±SEM."
p-values should be expressed by stating the actual value (rather than p<0.05 etc) unless the value is less than 0.001, in which case p<0.001 should be used. When referring to non-statistically significant results, it is advisable to also provide the p-value, rather than simply stating "not significant" or "NS" or "p>0.05."
Figures should also adhere to the principle that confidence intervals are preferable to p-values. The error bars in graphs should reflect the 95% CI values rather than SEM or SD values.
Percentages should be presented to one decimal place, following the numbers that generate them. For example when describing survey data, authors should use a format along these lines: "27 patients (31.2%) ..." or "patients showing a positive clinical response (n=27, 31.2%)..."

References

References should appear as superscript numbered in order of appearance. This applies also to online references. The numbered list should appear at the end of the article according to the Uniform Requirements. References must conform to the "Vancouver style", as recommended by the Index Medicus. References to papers which have been accepted but are still awaiting publication, should be referenced as "in press". Copies of these references should be provided to the Editor. All authors must be listed when there are less than seven, otherwise, only the first six should be mentioned, followed by "et al." The accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author.

Example of a journal article

Burn J, Baraitser M, Hughes DT, Saldana-Garcia P, Taylor JF. Absent right atrioventricular connection and double-inlet ventricle due to an unbalanced familial 8:13 chromosome translocation: a cautionary tale. Pediatr Cardiol 1984;5:55-59

Example of a book

Anderson RH, Macartney FJ, Shinebourne EA, Tynan M. Paediatric Cardiology. Edinburgh; Churchill Livingstone, 1987

Example of a book chapter

Gersony WM. The cardiovascular system. In: Behrman RE, Kleigman RM, Nelson WE, Vaughan VC, ed. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1992; 1125-1221

Figures and tables

Figures and/ or tables may be submitted with manuscript. In such cases, copies of figures and tables should each be placed on separate pages in the submission document file, together with their respective legends. Figures should be provided with an internal scale marker where appropriate. Tables should be printed separately, and graphs should be drawn on a white background, with no gridlines. Bar graphs and pie charts should be displayed in 2D. Where necessary, hatching should always be used in preference to shading. Colours should be avoided. The raw data that has been used to prepare any graph should be provided.

Figures and images are to be supplied also in good quality image files (minimum 300 dpi at final printed size, supplied electronically in TIFF / PNG / JPEG format) to be considered for direct use in publication. This is to be supplied as a separate file, not with the text.

Remember that figures, graphs or tables will take up the width of a column and at most two and should therefore remain clear and readable when reduced or increased to this size. Legends should be sufficiently detailed so as to allow the reader to understand the figure / table without reference to the main text. The meaning of any abbreviations or symbols used in the figure / table should be included in the legend.

Ethics

The Editorial Board may refuse any material submitted which does not conform to normal ethical practice. If reference made to any patient may lead to identification of this patient, e.g. in photographs, case reports, signed permission of the patient should be sought. This is the responsibility of the author.

The Editorial Board retains the copyright of all material published in the Proceedings of the Maltese Cardiac Society. Any reprint in any form of any part will require permission from the Editorial Board. Material submitted to the Editorial Board will not be returned, unless specifically requested.