A manuscript will be evaluated not only with respect to its scientific competence and accuracy but also to its relative importance in the field of heart valve and heart valve disease and for its probable interest to our readership.  Each manuscript will be reviewed by the Editor and/or Associate Editor and at least 2-3 additional outside reviewers.  Invited reviewers will evaluate each manuscript based on the following criteria:

Originality
The importance of the research question as it pertains to heart valves and heart valve disease;

Scientific integrity
Analytical methods appropriate for data presented;
Data presented in a clear concise method;
Tables, figures, illustrations and references are appropriate for the topic;
Appropriate statistical methods applied and determination if statistical review should be considered;

Manuscript format and content
Are structure, content, grammatical, length and writing style consistent with guidelines;
Is the discussion section relevant;
Is the conclusion section reasonable and support the discussion.

Acknowledgement of manuscript receipt
The corresponding author will receive an acknowledgement by e-mail and an assigned unique tracking number. Any and all communication with the Editor regarding the status of a manuscript will be provided only to authors who identify the manuscript number.  When corresponding with the editorial office manuscripts must be referenced using the assigned number.

Manuscript acceptance, revision and re-review
The corresponding author will be notified by e-mail about the acceptance of a manuscript. If it accepted only conditionally pending revision, the corresponding author will receive all reviewer comments together with the editor’s recommendations. Revised manuscripts must be submitted in three parts: 1) a cover letter that provides a point-by-point response to reviewers’ comments; 2) the revised manuscript containing the deletions noted strikethrough and additions in bold; 3) the unmarked revised manuscript.  Revised manuscripts received after 3 months from the ‘Request to Revise” receipt date may be required to resubmit as a new manuscript and will be subject to the entire submission review process.
Manuscripts that have been either undergone substantial revision or contain techniques/technology of controversial topics or articles discussing complex issues are subject to re-review at the discretion of the Editor. 

Copyright    
If the manuscript is accepted for publication in the Journal, the copyright of it must be transferred to ICR Publishers Ltd., and the copyright transfer document, which will be sent with the page proofs, should be signed by all authors of the article.

Medical ethics
Human studies.  Manuscripts reporting on human studies must adhere to the principles of the Helsinki Declaration (which can be found by clicking here).  Reports describing data obtained from research conducted in human participants must contain a statement in the Methods section indicating approval by the Institutional Review Board. If patients are identifiable from illustrations, photographs, study data or figures, release forms giving permission for publication must be submitted with the manuscript.

Animal experiments. Manuscripts reporting experiments on living animals should adhere to the principles provided in the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (which can be found by clicking here) .  Manuscripts should also include in the Methods section a statement by the authors that the relevant regulations of the country where the experiments were carried out were fully observed. 

Conflict of interest
All authors submitting any type of communication to be considered for publication in the Journal are expected to disclose any type of commercial association that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with that communication. All sources of funding of the work should be declared and acknowledged in a footnote. If the corporate or institutional affiliation of an author might constitute a conflict of interest, this fact should be communicated with the Editor in writing when the manuscript is submitted.

Scientific contribution
The maximum number of authors is eight, except in the case of multicenter studies. If there are more than three authors, each author will be required to state the type of scientific participation in the work. This can be (a) conception or design of protocol, collection, assessment or interpretation of data, (b) drafting the manuscript or revising its contents and (c) approval of the final version to be sent for publication.

Language
The language of the Journal is the American version of medical/technical English.