Preparing your materials

Policy on prior publication

When authors submit manuscripts to this journal, these manuscripts should not be under consideration, accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, book or similar entity, unless explicit permission or agreement has been sought from all entities involved. However, deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive shall not be viewed as prior or duplicate publication. Authors should follow the Cambridge University Press Preprint Policy regarding preprint archives and maintaining the version of record.

General Information

Use of Abbreviations

Abbreviations are not allowed in the text except for the following only: NYHA, CHD, MRI, CT, ICU and units of measure such as mmHg or kg, are allowed. However, any abbreviations can be used on tables and figures.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted via the web-based peer-review system, CTY Manuscript Central and must include a complete set of Figures. Further information regarding Figure formats is outlined below.

Authorship

Authorship should be assumed only by those workers who have contributed materially to the work and its report, and who accept the responsibility for the accuracy of the concepts expressed. Colleagues who have otherwise assisted or collaborated should be recognized in the section for acknowledgements. An excellent guide to authorship is given by the Style Manual Committee of the Council of Biology Editors, and the editors encourage consultation with this source.

Style

The Journal uses the English language and as such does not use Latin terms such as ‘superior vena cava’. Anatomic terms should be given in the English language. Headlines and subheadings should be liberally employed in the methods, results, and discussion sections. Use short paragraphs whenever possible. The authors should strive for clarity of expression, avoiding, in particular, the use of jargon. Authors should also avoid conventions such as Group 1, Group 2, and so on, using descriptive titles rather than alphanumeric codes. Authors should use the definite/indefinite article where required.

Title page

The manuscript should include a title page, and it should follow these rules:

1. Author qualifications (for example MD) must not be included on the authors’ list on the title page, except in the address for correspondence.

2. Include the first names of the authors, followed by the initials of any middle names, and finally, the family name.

3. Include the affiliation address(es) for the authors, to include the department, institute, city and country.

4. Include an address for correspondence, with the full postal address, telephone and e-mail address of the author in question.

English language editing services

Authors, particularly those whose first language is not English, may wish to have their English-language manuscripts checked by a native speaker before submission. This step is optional, but may help to ensure that the academic content of the paper is fully understood by the Editor and any reviewers.

In order to help prospective authors to prepare for submission and to reach their publication goals, Cambridge University Press offers a range of high-quality manuscript preparation services, including language editing. You can find out more on our language services page.

Please note that the use of any of these services is voluntary, and at the author's own expense. Use of these services does not guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, nor does it restrict the author to submitting to a Cambridge-published journal.

Competing Interests

All authors must include a competing interest declaration in their main manuscript file. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published in the article.

Competing interests are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations.

If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting must include competing interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors.

Example wording for a declaration is as follows: “Competing interests: Author 1 is employed at organisation A, Author 2 is on the Board of company B and is a member of organisation C. Author 3 has received grants from company D.” If no competing interests exist, the declaration should state “Competing interests: The author(s) declare none”.

Supplementary materials

Material that is not essential to understanding or supporting a manuscript, but which may nonetheless be relevant or interesting to readers, may be submitted as supplementary material. Supplementary material will be published online alongside your article, but will not be published in the pages of the journal. Types of supplementary material may include, but are not limited to, appendices, additional tables or figures, datasets, videos, and sound files.

Supplementary materials will not be typeset or copyedited, so should be supplied exactly as they are to appear online. Please see our general guidance on supplementary materials for further information.

Where relevant we encourage authors to publish additional qualitative or quantitative research outputs in an appropriate repository, and cite these in manuscripts.

Author affiliations

Author affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research presented was conducted and/or supported and/or approved. For non-research content, any affiliations should represent the institution(s) with which each author is currently affiliated.

For more information, please see our author affiliation policy and author affiliation FAQs.

Manuscript types and style guide

Allowed manuscript types are Original Article, Article Commentaries, Brief Report, Review Article, Editorial, Images in Congenital Cardiac Disease, Letter and Guidelines. Each is described below in detail.

Original Articles*

Please note that Original Articles are subjected to the following limitations:

o A maximum of 4,500 words including title page and references

o A maximum of 2 tables

o A maximum of 2 figures

Divide the manuscript into the following sections:

Title Page (see instructions above)

Abstract

Key words (3-6)

Headings: Introduction, Materials and method, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Financial support, Conflicts of interest, Ethical standards, References, Tables, Figure legends and Figures

Abstract

The Abstract should be no more than 250 words and should include statements identifying relevant methods and results justifying publication. Do not use abbreviations or symbols.

Introduction

The Introduction should be brief and set out the purposes for which the study has been performed. It should not include an extensive review of the literature.

Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods should be sufficiently detailed so that readers and reviewers can understand precisely what has been done without studying the references directly. The description may be abbreviated when well-accepted techniques are used with appropriate reference to previously published methods. Statements confirming conformation to institutional and governmental review of the experimental protocol (see above in the Editorial policies section) should be included here.

Results

The results should be presented precisely. Reference to Tables and Figures, to the extent that they contribute substantively to help the reader understand clearly the relevant positive and negative findings, is encouraged. Keep discussion of their importance to a minimum in this section of the manuscript.

Discussion

The Discussion should relate directly to the study being reported. The Discussion should interpret the results, should describe the relevance of the results, and should include a discussion of the limitations of the study. Do not include a general review of the topic.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements should follow the discussion. Here you may acknowledge individuals or organisations that provided advice and/or support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be listed in the following section. The Acknowledgements should be placed after the main body of the text before Financial Support. If there are no Acknowledgements, the title should be inserted followed by ‘‘None’’. Papers that do not include an Acknowledgements section will not be reviewed.

Financial Support

The Financial Support statement should be placed after the Acknowledgements and before the Conflicts of Interest section. Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. This is particularly important in the case of research that is supported by industry. Support from industry not only includes direct financial support for the study but also support in kind such as provision of medications, equipment, kits or reagents without charge or at reduced cost and provision of services such as statistical analysis. For example, ‘‘This work was supported by the Medical research Council (grant number XXXXXXX)’’. Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with ‘‘and’’ before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors’ initials. For example, ‘‘This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the National Institutes of Health (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)’’. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: ‘‘This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.’’ Papers that do not include a Financial Support statement will not be reviewed.

Conflicts of Interest

The Conflicts of Interest section should be placed after Financial Support. Conflict of interest exists when an author has interests that might inappropriately influence his or her judgement, even if that judgement is not influenced. Because of this, authors must disclose potentially conflicting interests so that others can make judgements about such effects. At the time of submission authors should disclose any financial arrangements or connections they may have that are pertinent to the submitted manuscript and that may be perceived as potentially biasing their paper. Non-financial interests that could be relevant in this context should also be disclosed. If no relevant interests exist, this should be stated. This requirement applies to all the authors of a paper and to all categories of papers including letters to the editor. If there are no interests to declare, the title should be inserted followed by ‘‘None’’. Papers that do not include a Conflicts of Interest section will not be reviewed.

Ethical Standards

The Ethical Standards statement, if required, should be placed after the Conflict of Interest section before the References. Where research involves human and/or animal experimentation, the following statements should be included (as applicable): ‘‘The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national guidelines on human experimentation (please name) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008, and has been approved by the institutional committees (please name) .’’ and ‘‘The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national guides on the care and use of laboratory animals (please name) and has been approved by the institutional committee (please name).’’ If the research does not involve human and/or animal experimentation, this statement should be omitted. Papers reporting the results of human and/or animal experimentation that do not contain an Ethical Standards statement will not be reviewed. For more information on the ethical standards and procedures of Cambridge Core, please visit https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/authors/publishing-ethics.

Article Commentaries

Article Commentaries are responses to a previously published paper. The previously published paper must form the first reference of the Commentary. The authors of the previously published paper will be invited to respond, but further responses will not be accepted.

Review Articles*

Reviews of recent developments are welcome. Authors are encouraged to contact the editor to determine the appropriateness for inclusion. The format is the same as for Original Articles (above). In particular, please see the note on Abbreviations, above.

Case Reports / Brief Reports*

Case Reports which add important new information will be published as Brief Reports, and must conform to the following requirements:

o Abbreviations are not allowed in the text except for the following only: NYHA, CHD, MRI, CT, ICU and units of measure such as mmHg or kg, are allowed. However, any abbreviations can be used on tables and figures.

o Headings before the References: Financial Support, Conflicts of Interest, Ethical Standards

(Please see under Original Article above for the exact wording).

o A title page (see instructions above)

o A maximum of three authors

o An abstract (of about 60 words)

o A maximum of 1,000 words

o 3-6 key words

o 2 Figures OR 2 Tables only

o A maximum of 2 supplementary material files

o A maximum of 10 references.

Editorials and Letters to the Editor

Readers are encouraged to write about any topic that relates to cardiology in the young. Such letters will appear in Letters to the Editor. They should be no longer than 500 words. Please include a title page (see instructions above).

Editorials are written on invitation but unsolicited articles of approximately 1,500 words which may have particular topical interest will be welcomed for consideration. Please include a title page (see instructions above). For Editorials and Letters please also see the note on abbreviations under Images, below.

Images in Congenital Cardiac Disease*

Definitive, unique, or extraordinary pictures of any aspect of congenital cardiac disease will be presented and must conform to the following requirements:

Abbreviations are not allowed in the text except for the following only: NYHA, CHD, MRI, CT, ICU and units of measure such as mmHg or kg, are allowed. However, any abbreviations can be used on tables and figures.
Headings before the References: Financial Support, Conflicts of Interest, Ethical Standards (Please see under Original Article above for the exact wording).
A title page (see instructions above)
A maximum of three authors
An abstract (of about 30 words)
A maximum of 250 words
3-6 key words
A maximum of 4 images
Only 1 reference.

Instructional value and artistic merit will be considered in addition to scientific import and clinical relevance.

Guidelines*

CTY welcomes papers that consist of clear, concise guidelines in any technique or methodology that relates to the practice of cardiology and cardiac surgery in the young. Guidelines should be evidence based and should reflect professional consensus of best practice. Generally they will be expected to be endorsed by professional societies and associations. These papers do not follow any specific format, and may include figures and tables. Guidelines may be subject to peer review before acceptance for publication. Please include a title page (see instructions above) and please see the note on Abbreviations under Images.

References

References should be numbered consecutively (in superscript) as they appear in the text. Type the reference list with double-spacing on a separate page. References (using Index Medicus abbreviations) should appear in the style as demonstrated below. Please note that if more than six authors, the first three authors should be listed and then ‘et al.’. Examples:

1. Redington AN, Rigby ML, Oldershaw P, Gibson DG, Shinebourne EA. Right ventricular function 10 years after the Mustard operation for transposition of the great arteries: analysis of size, shape, and wall motion. Br Heart J 1989; 62: 455-461.

2. Smith VR, Jones AL, Miller W et al. Left ventricular myocardial velocities in children. Eur Heart J 2000; 21: 104-112.

3. Zuberbuhler JR. Clinical Diagnosis in Pediatric Cardiology. Churchill Livingstone, New York, 1981.

4. Frantz EG. Adult respiratory distress syndrome in children. In: Harried HS, Jr (ed.) Pediatric Pulmonary Heart Disease. Little, Brown, Boston, 1990, pp 315-324.

Tables

Tables should follow the style as demonstrated in issues to date, and be essential to the understanding of the text. Tables should have short descriptive titles and should be numbered (1,2, 3 etc.) as they appear sequentially in the text. If only one Table is included, it should be referred to as Table. Submit each Table on a separate sheet of paper. All abbreviations and symbols should be defined in a footnote below the Table.

Figures

Please ensure that all graphs are exclusively submitted as 2D images.

To ensure that your figures are reproduced to the highest possible standards, Cambridge Core recommends the following formats and resolutions for supplying electronic figures.

Please ensure that your figures are saved at final publication size and are in our recommended file formats. Following these guidelines will result in high quality images being reproduced.

Line artwork

Format: tif or eps

Colour mode: black and white (also known as 1-bit)

Resolution: 1200 dpi

Combination artwork (line/tone)

Format: tif or eps

Colour mode: grayscale (also known as 8-bit)

Resolution: 800 dpi

Black and white halftone artwork

Format: tif

Colour mode: grayscale (also known as 8-bit) Resolution: 300 dpi

Colour halftone artwork

Format: tif

Colour mode: CMYK colour

Resolution: 300 dpi

If you require any further guidance on creating suitable electronic figures, please visit www.cambridge.org/core/services/authors/journals/journals-artwork-guide

Supplementary Material

Data that would be impractical to include in an article itself can be added to an article as Supplementary Material. Authors may include tables and figures as well as data such as videos, 3-D structures/images, and extensive datasets. All supplementary material must be submitted with the original manuscript as separate files. Supplementary data should be referred to in the text with the prefix "S" (e.g. Supplementary Table S1, Supplementary Figure S1). Supplementary files will not be copy-edited or typeset, and will be published as supplied.

* These article types may be eligible for APC waivers or discounts under one of the agreements Cambridge University Press has made to support open access.

Authorship and contributorship

All authors listed on any papers submitted to this journal must be in agreement that the authors listed would all be considered authors according to disciplinary norms, and that no authors who would reasonably be considered an author have been excluded. For further details on this journal’s authorship policy, please see this journal's publishing ethics policies.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools

We acknowledge the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the research and writing processes. To ensure transparency, we expect any such use to be declared and described fully to readers, and to comply with our plagiarism policy and best practices regarding citation and acknowledgements. We do not consider artificial intelligence (AI) tools to meet the accountability requirements of authorship, and therefore generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and similar should not be listed as an author on any submitted content.

In particular, any use of an AI tool:

to generate images within the manuscript should be accompanied by a full description of the process used, and declared clearly in the image caption(s)
to generate text within the manuscript should be accompanied by a full description of the process used, include appropriate and valid references and citations, and be declared in the manuscript’s Acknowledgements.
to analyse or extract insights from data or other materials, for example through the use of text and data mining, should be accompanied by a full description of the process used, including details and appropriate citation of any dataset(s) or other material analysed in all relevant and appropriate areas of the manuscript
must not present ideas, words, data, or other material produced by third parties without appropriate acknowledgement or permission

Descriptions of AI processes used should include at minimum the version of the tool/algorithm used, where it can be accessed, any proprietary information relevant to the use of the tool/algorithm, any modifications of the tool made by the researchers (such as the addition of data to a tool’s public corpus), and the date(s) it was used for the purpose(s) described. Any relevant competing interests or potential bias arising as a consequence of the tool/algorithm’s use should be transparently declared and may be discussed in the article.

Author Hub

You can find guides for many aspects of publishing with Cambridge at Author Hub, our suite of resources for Cambridge authors.

ORCID

We require all corresponding authors to identify themselves using ORCID when submitting a manuscript to this journal. ORCID provides a unique identifier for researchers and, through integration with key research workflows such as manuscript submission and grant applications, provides the following benefits:

Discoverability: ORCID increases the discoverability of your publications, by enabling smarter publisher systems and by helping readers to reliably find work that you have authored.
Convenience: As more organisations use ORCID, providing your iD or using it to register for services will automatically link activities to your ORCID record, and will enable you to share this information with other systems and platforms you use, saving you re-keying information multiple times.
Keeping track: Your ORCID record is a neat place to store and (if you choose) share validated information about your research activities and affiliations.

See our ORCID FAQs for more information.

If you don’t already have an iD, you will need to create one if you decide to submit a manuscript to this journal. You can register for one directly from your user account on ScholarOne, or alternatively via https://ORCID.org/register.

If you already have an iD, please use this when submitting your manuscript, either by linking it to your ScholarOne account, or by supplying it during submission using the "Associate your existing ORCID iD" button.

ORCIDs can also be used if authors wish to communicate to readers up-to-date information about how they wish to be addressed or referred to (for example, they wish to include pronouns, additional titles, honorifics, name variations, etc.) alongside their published articles. We encourage authors to make use of the ORCID profile’s “Published Name” field for this purpose. This is entirely optional for authors who wish to communicate such information in connection with their article. Please note that this method is not currently recommended for author name changes: see Cambridge’s author name change policy if you want to change your name on an already published article. See our ORCID FAQs for more information.

Cardiology in the Young