1. Submission Overview

Please read the following items carefully before submitting your manuscript to The Journal of Cardiovascular Aging (JCA). Please be aware of the Editorial Policies and the following requirements.

1.1 Topic Suitability

The topic of the manuscript must fit the scope of the journal. Please refer to Aims and Scope for more information.

1.2 Open Access and Copyright

The journal adopts the Gold Open Access publishing model and distributes content under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyright is retained by authors. Please make sure that you are aware of these policies.

1.3 Publication Fees

JCA is an open-access journal. When a paper is accepted for publication, authors are required to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs) to cover its editorial and production costs. The APC for each submission is $1500. There are no additional charges based on color, length, figures, or other elements. For more details, please refer to OAE Publication Fees.

1.4 Language Editing

All submissions are required to be presented clearly and cohesively in English. Authors whose first language is not English are advised to have their manuscripts checked or edited by a native English speaker before submission to ensure a high quality of expression.

If needed, authors are recommended to consider the language editing services provided by OAE to ensure that the manuscript is written in correct scientific English before submission. An extra charge is required to enjoy this service. Please visit https://www.oaepublish.com/index/author_services or contact English-Editing@oaepublish.com for more details.

1.5 Work Funded by the National Institutes of Health

If an accepted manuscript was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the author may inform Editors of the NIH award number. The Editors can deposit the paper to the NIH Manuscript Submission System on behalf of the author.

2. Submission Preparation

2.1 Cover Letter

A cover letter is required to be submitted accompanying each manuscript. It should be concise and outline the key message of the manuscript, explain how it fits within the scope of the journal, describe the significance of the findings, and the attractiveness of the topic to the readership of the journal.
The cover letter should include the following:

• Title of the manuscript;
• Type of the manuscript (e.g., Original Research Article, Review Article, Commentary, etc.);
• State the key question that is being addressed in the study;
• One sentence summary of the experimental design;
• One sentence summary of the main findings;
• Describe how the manuscript fits the Aims and Scope of the journal;
• Confirm that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by any other journal;
• Confirm that all authors have approved the manuscript and agreed on its submission to the journal;
• Confirm that journal-specific requirements have been met if any.

If the manuscript is contributed to a special issue, please also mention it in the cover letter.
If the manuscript was presented partly or entirely at a conference, the author should clearly state the background information of the event, including the conference name, time and place in the cover letter.

2.2 Types of Manuscripts

The journal publishes Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Commentaries, Editorials, News, etc. For more details about paper type, please see below:

Original Research Articles: This type of article describes the findings of research projects that have not been published. The focus should be on the originality, robustness and novelty of the findings. Clinical studies as well as experimental research findings are considered. The provision of new mechanistic insights raises the priority rating of the manuscripts. Likewise, articles addressing fundamental issues in medicine and biomedical sciences are considered favorably, as opposed to studies addressing a minor issue or providing incremental findings.

The manuscript should be organized as:

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Material and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References

The original research article must have a structured abstract including Introduction, Aim, Methods and Results, and Conclusion (word limit: 300 words). It should also include a brief paragraph describing the potential impact of the findings (word limit: 50 words). There is no word limit to the original research articles (except for the abstract and potential impact). However, it is important to be concise and avoid redundant and duplicate statements. In general, an original research article should not be longer than 10,000 words (all sections, including references) and should not contain more than 8 display items (figures and tables). The authors should include a detailed methods section, describing various aspects of the experimental design and methodology. The discussion section should include a sub-section describing the strengths and weaknesses of the study. The authors must provide a frank assessment of the weaknesses of the study.

Brief reports: Brief reports describe original discoveries as in original research articles except that the main findings could be described concisely. However, the findings must be solid and compelling.

The manuscript should be organized as:

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Material and Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• References

The brief report must have a structured abstract including Introduction, Aim, Methods and Results, and Conclusion (word limit: 300 words). It should not be longer than 4,000 words (including references) and contain more than 4 display items. The brief reports also should include a section describing the strengths and weaknesses of the study.

State-of-the-Art Review articles: The Editors typically commission the leading clinicians and scientists to write state-of-the-art review articles on timely topics of interest to the broad readership of the JCA. The Editors will consider unsolicited review articles. A good review article must provide a comprehensive, in-depth, and critical analysis of the literature and extract or advocate new concepts based on the existing data. A review article that simply compiles the existing literature without critical analysis will not be considered favorably. A general recommendation for the length of the review article is not to exceed 12,000 words and not to contain more than 8 display items.

Editorials: Editorials are typically solicited by the Editors from the experts in the field to discuss original research articles or brief reports published in JCA.

Commentaries on Impactful Discoveries (CIDs): The CIDs are typically commissioned by the Editors. However, unsolicited CIDs also will be considered. The Commentaries typically address important discoveries published in other journals. They must be less than 1,500 words and contain no more than one display item and less than 8 references.

Resource Reports: The Resource Reports describe original datasets that are of interest to a large group of investigators. The Resource Reports typically describe valuable large datasets that are beneficial to investigators in the field, such as describing the transcriptome or proteome in normal and pathological conditions. The dataset should be uploaded to the journal site and be available to the investigators for their use. The Resource Reports should include an abbreviated abstract of ~ 150 words, a graphic abstract; depicting the main findings, and an unstructured main body. The Resource Reports should be less than 3,000 words in length and should not contain more than 4 display items. The main dataset should be provided as online supplementary material.

Et cetera: This category of articles is unsolicited articles that address timely or historic topics of interest to the broad readership of the JCA. They could be simply opinions expressed on timely topics. Such articles should not exceed 1500 words and should not contain more than one display item and 8 references.

Early Career Investigators forum: The journal will publish commentaries, personal experiences, opinions, and perspectives by those who are in the early stages of their academic careers.

2.3 Manuscript Structure

The initial submission could be format-free. However, the revised and accepted manuscripts must conform to the journal’s format, as outlined below.

2.3.1 Title Page

2.3.1.1 Title of the manuscript

The title of the manuscript should be concise, specific and relevant, with no more than 16 words if possible. When gene or protein names are included, the standard symbols rather than full names should be used.

2.3.1.2 Authors and Affiliations

Authors' full names should be listed. The initials of middle names can be provided. Institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors should be listed. At least one author should be designated as the corresponding author. In addition, corresponding authors are suggested to provide their Open Researcher and Contributor ID upon submission. Please note that any change to authorship is not allowed after manuscript acceptance, except during the revisions.

2.3.1.3 Short title

A short title comprised of 2 to 4 words should be included in the title page.

2.3.1.4 Corresponding author information

The name and detailed contact information of the author(s) to whom all correspondence will be addressed must be included.

2.3.2 Abstract

Original research, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses require structured abstracts. The abstract should provide the context or background for the study and should state the study's purpose, basic procedures (selection of study participants, settings, measurements, analytical methods), main findings (giving specific effect sizes and their statistical and clinical significance, if possible), and principal conclusions. It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations, note important limitations, and not overinterpret findings. Clinical trial abstracts should include items that the CONSORT group has identified as essential. It is not allowed to contain results that are not presented and substantiated in the manuscript, or exaggerate the main conclusions. Citations should not be included in the abstract.

2.3.2.1 Keywords

Three to eight keywords should be provided, which are specific to the article, yet reasonably common within the subject discipline.

2.3.3 Main Text

Manuscripts of different types are structured with different sections of content. Please refer to Types of Manuscripts to make sure which sections should be included in the manuscripts.

2.3.3.1 Introduction

Provide a context or background for the study (that is, the nature of the problem and its significance). State the specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested by, the study or observation. Cite only directly pertinent references, and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.

2.3.3.2 Material and Methods

The guiding principle of the Methods section should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. The Methods section should provide technical details and experimental conditions such that others with access to the data would be able to reproduce the results. In general, the section should include only information that was available at the time the plan or protocol for the study was being written; all information obtained during the study belongs in the Results section. If an organization was paid or otherwise contracted to help conduct the research (examples include data collection and management), then this should be detailed in the methods. The Methods section should include a statement indicating that the research was approved by an independent local, regional, or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted per the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the local, regional or national review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.

2.3.3.2.1 Selection and Description of Participants

Clearly describe the selection of observational or experimental participants (healthy individuals or patients, including controls), including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Because the relevance of such variables as age, sex, or ethnicity is not always known at the time of study design, researchers should aim for the inclusion of representative populations into all study types and at a minimum provide descriptive data for these and other relevant demographic variables. Comment on how representative the study sample is of the larger population of interest.

Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex and/or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine sex and gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example in only one sex, authors should justify why. Authors should define how they determined race or ethnicity and justify their relevance. In the case where race or ethnicity was not collected, explain why it was not collected. Race and ethnicity are social and not biological constructs; authors should interpret results associated with race and ethnicity in that context. Authors should use neutral, precise, and respectful language to describe study participants and avoid the use of terminology that might stigmatize participants.

2.3.3.2.2 Technical Information

Specify the study's main and secondary objectives–usually identified as primary and secondary outcomes. Identify methods, equipment (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow others to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give the reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration. Identify appropriate scientific names and gene names.

2.3.3.2.3 Statistics

Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to judge its appropriateness for the study and to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P values, which fail to convey important information about effect size and precision of estimates. References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible (with pages stated). Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the statistical software package(s) and versions used. Distinguish prespecified from exploratory analyses, including subgroup analyses.

2.3.3.3 Results

Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and figures, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only the most important observations. Provide data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified in the Methods Section. Extra or supplementary materials and technical details can be placed in an appendix where they will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text, or they can be published solely in the electronic version of the journal.

Give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess supporting data. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as “random” (which implies a randomizing device), “normal,” “significant,” “correlations,” and “sample.”

Separate reporting of data by demographic variables, such as age and sex, facilitates the pooling of data for subgroups across studies and should be routine, unless there are compelling reasons not to stratify reporting, which should be explained.

2.3.3.4 Discussion

It is useful to begin the discussion by briefly summarizing the main findings, and explore possible mechanisms or explanations for these findings. Emphasize the new and important aspects of your study and put your findings in the context of the totality of the relevant evidence. State any limitations and weaknesses of your study, and explore the implications of your findings for future research and clinical practice or policy. Discuss the influence or association of variables, such as sex and/or gender, on your findings, where appropriate, and the limitations of the data. Do not repeat in detail data or other information given in other parts of the manuscript, such as in the Introduction or the Results section. Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not adequately supported by the data. In particular, distinguish between clinical and statistical significance, and avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless the manuscript includes the appropriate economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority or alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypotheses when warranted, but label them clearly.

2.3.3.5 Conclusion

It should state clearly the main conclusion and include an explanation of their relevance or importance to the field.

2.3.4 Back Matter

2.3.4.1 Acknowledgments

Anyone who contributed to the article but does not meet the criteria for authorship, including those who provided professional writing services or materials, should be acknowledged. Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgments section. This section is not added if the author does not have anyone to acknowledge.

2.3.4.2 Authors' Contributions

Each author is expected to have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data, or the creation of new software used in the work, or have drafted the work or substantively revised it.
Please use the last name and Initial of the first name to refer to an author's contribution. For example: made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study and performed data analysis and interpretation: Salas H, Castaneda WV; performed data acquisition, as well as provided administrative, technical, and material support: Castillo N, Young V.
If an article is single-authored, please include "The author contributed solely to the article." in this section.

2.3.4.3 Availability of Data and Materials

To maintain the integrity, transparency and reproducibility of research records, authors should include this section in their manuscripts, detailing where the data supporting their findings can be found. Data can be deposited into data repositories or published as supplementary information in the journal. Large-scale datasets, such as RNA-Seq and genomic data should be deposited in public databases. Authors who cannot share their data should state that the data will not be shared and explain it. If a manuscript does not involve such an issue, please state "Not applicable." in this section.

2.3.4.4 Financial Support and Sponsorship

All sources of funding for the study reported should be declared. The role of the funding body in the experiment design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and writing of the manuscript should be declared. Any relevant grant numbers and the link to the funder's website should be provided if any. If the study is not involved with this issue, state "None." in this section.

2.3.4.5 Conflicts of Interest

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there are no conflicts of interest, please state "All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest." in this section. Some authors may be bound by confidentiality agreements. In such cases, in place of itemized disclosures, we will require authors to state "All authors declare that they are bound by confidentiality agreements that prevent them from disclosing their conflicts of interest in this work.". If authors are unsure whether conflicts of interest exist, please refer to the "Conflicts of Interest" of JCA Editorial Policies for a full explanation.

2.3.4.6 Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

Research involving human subjects, human material or human data must be performed per the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by an appropriate ethics committee. An informed consent to participate in the study should also be obtained from participants, or their parents or legal guardians for children under 16. A statement detailing the name of the ethics committee (including the reference number where appropriate) and the informed consent obtained must appear in the manuscripts reporting such research.
Studies involving animals and cell lines must include a statement on ethical approval. More information is available at Editorial Policies.
If the manuscript does not involve such an issue, please state "Not applicable." in this section.

2.3.4.7 Consent for Publication

Manuscripts containing individual details, images, or videos, must obtain consent for publication from that person, or in the case of children, their parents, or legal guardians. If the person has died, consent for publication must be obtained from the next of kin of the participant. Manuscripts must include a statement that written informed consent for publication was obtained. Authors do not have to submit such content accompanying the manuscript. However, these documents must be available if requested. If the manuscript does not involve this issue, state "Not applicable." in this section.

2.3.4.8 Copyright

Authors retain the copyright of their works through a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that clearly states how readers can copy, distribute, and use their attributed research, free of charge. A declaration "© The Author(s) 2024." will be added to each article. Authors are required to sign a License to Publish before formal publication.

2.3.4.9 References

Preferably original research articles that directly support the statements should be cited. Review articles could be cited when they specifically address the statement made in the manuscript. An abstract should not be used as a reference. Non-specific citations should be avoided.

References should be numbered in order of appearance at the end of manuscripts. In the text, reference numbers should be placed in square brackets and the corresponding references are cited thereafter. If the number of authors is less than or equal to six, it is required to list all authors’ names. If the number of authors is more than six, only the first three authors' names are required to be listed in the references, other authors’ names should be omitted and replaced with "et al.". Abbreviations of the journals should be provided baesd on Index Medicus. Information from manuscripts accepted but not published should be cited in the text as "Unpublished material" with written permission from the source.

References should be described as follows, depending on the types of works:

For other types of references, please refer to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

The journal also recommends that authors prepare references with a bibliography software package, such as EndNote to avoid typing mistakes and duplicated references.

2.3.4.10 Supplementary Materials

Additional data and information can be uploaded as Supplementary Materials to accompany the manuscripts. The supplementary materials will also be available to the referees as part of the peer-review process. The following file format is acceptable, for data sheet (word, excel, csv, cdx, fasta, pdf or zip files), presentation (PowerPoint, pdf or zip files), image (cdx, eps, jpeg, pdf, png or tiff), table (word, excel, csv or pdf), audio (mp3, wav or wma) or video (avi, divx, flv, mov, mp4, mpeg, mpg or wmv). All information should be clearly presented. Supplementary materials should be cited in the main text in numeric order (e.g., Supplementary Figure 1, Supplementary Figure 2, Supplementary Table 1, Supplementary Table 2, etc.). The style of supplementary figures or tables complies with the same requirements as figures or tables in the main text. Videos and audio should be prepared in English, and limited to a size of 500 MB.

2.3.5 Video Abstract Guidelines

We encourage authors of the accepted original research articles to submit a video abstract of their findings for posting online on the journal's website. The purpose of the video abstract is to engage the interest of the viewers in your article by succinctly summarizing your findings and their significance. The video abstract should be about 3 to 5 minutes long.

2.3.5.1 Editorial Guidelines

Please follow these guidelines when creating your video abstract:

• Introduce the topic of this research, and present the main question being addressed or the hypothesis tested. Present the main finding(s) and your conclusion(s) and briefly discuss the potential implications of your findings. Please do not include any data that has not been presented in your manuscript.
• The video abstract must accurately present the content of your peer-reviewed accepted manuscript and must not contain data that are not presented in the accepted manuscript (otherwise, it will be disqualified).
• The written and spoken language in all videos must be English.
• The video presentation must begin with the exact title of the abstract and include the authors’ names.
• Video abstracts are a great way to engage readers across disciplines, and the presentation should be understandable and accessible to the general scientists including those outside the immediate domain of the article.
• The font size of the text should be large enough so that it is easily readable while the audience is listening to your verbal presentation.
• Authors are encouraged to include images or other video clips in the video abstract, such as animations and laboratory recordings, etc. Please ensure that they accurately represent the data in the manuscript and that you have the right to use the images or video clips in the video abstract.
• Please ensure that the content presented in the video (images, footage, music, audio, logos, etc.) has all necessary copyright assignments. Submissions funded by commercial companies must be identified in the disclaimer at the start of the presentation.

Authors can use computer cameras, smartphones, or other devices to create video abstracts. Make sure your camera is placed at eye level and adjust the camera at the proper angle. When recording video with a smartphone, place the phone in a horizontal position, not vertical.

2.3.5.2 Technical Specifications

All video abstracts will be assessed by the editorial team. The technical specifications are as follows:

• Format: .mov, .mp4, .avi (.mp4 is preferred)
• Maximum file size: 1 GB
• Up to 5 minutes in duration
• Aspect ratio: 4:3, deinterlaced (16:9 is also acceptable)

Please include a written transcript (editable file format) of your video material to ensure that your video is accessible to all.

2.3.5.3 Submission Guidelines

You can submit your video abstract to editorialoffice@cardiovascularaging.com via WeTransfer or Google Drive as soon as your paper is accepted for publication. You can also submit it in the Video abstract section when submitting the proofread manuscript in Mesas system.
If you have any questions about the video abstract, please contact us.

2.4 Manuscript Format

2.4.1 File Format

Manuscript files can be in DOC and DOCX formats and should not be locked or protected.

2.4.2 Length

The word limit is specified in the item "Types of Manuscripts". There are no restrictions on the number of figures, or the number of supporting documents. Authors are encouraged to present and discuss their findings concisely. A typical original research article should not contain more than 10,000 words and 8 display items (figures and tables).

2.4.3 Language

Manuscripts must be written in English.

2.4.4 Multimedia Files

• The journal supports manuscripts with multimedia files. The requirements are listed as follows:
• Video or audio files are only acceptable in English. The presentation and introduction should be easy to understand. The frames should be clear, and the speech speed should be moderate.
• A brief overview of the video or audio files should be given in the manuscript text.
• The video or audio files should be limited to a size of up to 500 MB.
• Please use professional software to produce high-quality video files, to facilitate acceptance and publication along with the submitted article. Upload the videos in mp4, wmv, or rm format (preferably mp4) and audio files in mp3 or wav format.

2.4.5 Figures

• Figures should be cited in numeric order (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2) and placed after the paragraph where it is first cited;
• Figures can be submitted in the format of tiff, psd, AI, eps, or jpeg, with a resolution of 300-600 dpi;
• Figure caption is placed under the Figure;
• Diagrams with describing words (including, flow chart, coordinate diagram, bar chart, line chart, scatter diagram, etc.) should be editable in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint format. Non-English information is not permitted;
• Labels, numbers, letters, arrows, and symbols in the figure should be clear, of uniform size, and contrast with the background;
• Symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters used to identify parts of the illustrations must be identified and explained in the legend;
• Internal scale (magnification) should be explained and the staining method in photomicrographs should be identified;
• All non-standard abbreviations should be explained in the legend;
• Permission for use of copyrighted materials from other sources, including re-published, adapted, modified, or partial figures and images from the internet, must be obtained. It is the authors’ responsibility to acquire the licenses, follow any citation instructions requested by third-party rights holders, and cover any supplementary charges.

2.4.6 Tables

• Tables should be cited in numeric order and placed after the paragraph where it is first cited;
• The table caption should be placed above the table and labeled sequentially (e.g., Table 1, Table 2);
• Tables should be provided in editable form like DOC or DOCX format (picture is not allowed);
• Abbreviations and symbols used in the table should be explained in the footnote;
• Explanatory matters should also be placed in footnotes;
• Permission for use of copyrighted materials from other sources, including re-published, adapted, modified, or partial tables from the internet, must be obtained. It is the authors' responsibility to acquire the licenses, follow any citation instructions requested by third-party rights holders, and cover any supplementary charges.

2.4.7 Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined upon first appearance in the abstract, main text, and in figure or table captions and used consistently thereafter. Non-standard abbreviations are not allowed unless they appear at least three times in the text. Commonly used abbreviations, such as DNA, RNA, ATP, etc., can be used directly without definition. Abbreviations in titles and keywords should be avoided, except for the ones which are widely used.

2.4.8 Italics

General italic words like vs., et al., etc., in vivo, in vitro; t test, F test, U test; related coefficient as r, sample number as n, and probability as P; names of genes; names of bacteria and biology species in Latin.

2.4.9 Units

SI Units should be used. Imperial, US customary and other units should be converted to SI units whenever possible. There is a space between the number and the unit (i.e., 23 mL). Hour, minute, second should be written as h, min, s.

2.4.10 Numbers

Numbers appearing at the beginning of sentences should be expressed in English. When there are two or more numbers in a paragraph, they should be expressed as Arabic numerals; when there is only one number in a paragraph, number < 10 should be expressed in English and number > 10 should be expressed as Arabic numerals. 12345678 should be written as 12,345,678.

2.4.11 Equations

Equations should be editable and not appear in a picture format. Authors are advised to use either the Microsoft Equation Editor or the MathType for display and inline equations.

2.5 Submission Link

Submit an article via https://www.oaecenter.com/login?JournalId=jca.

3. Research and Publication Ethics

3.1 Research Involving Human Subjects

All studies involving human subjects must be per the Helsinki Declaration and seek approval to conduct the study from an independent local, regional, or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board, etc.). Such approval, including the names of the ethics committee, institutional review board, etc., must be listed in a declaration statement of Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate in the manuscript. If the study is judged exempt from ethics approval, related information (e.g., the name of the ethics committee granting the exemption and the reason for the exemption) must be listed. Further documentation on ethics should also be prepared, as Editors may request more detailed information. Manuscripts with suspected ethical problems will be investigated according to COPE Guidelines.

3.1.1 Consent to Participate

For all studies involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the studies must be obtained from participants, or their parents or legal guardians for children under 16. Statements regarding consent to participate should be included in a declaration statement of Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate in the manuscript. If informed consent is not required, the name of the ethics committee granting the exemption and the reason for the exemption must be listed. If any ethical violation is found at any stage of publication, the issue will be investigated seriously based on COPE Guidelines.

3.1.2 Consent for Publication

All articles published by OAE are freely available on the Internet. All manuscripts that include individual participants' data in any form (i.e., details, images, videos, etc.) will not be published without Consent for Publication obtained from that person(s), or for children, their parents or legal guardians. If the person has died, Consent for Publication must be obtained from the next of kin. Authors must add a declaration statement of Consent for Publication in the manuscript, specifying that written informed consent for publication has been obtained.

3.1.3 Ethical Approval and Informed Consent for Retrospective/Database Studies

Researchers must confirm they have obtained ethical approval from ethical review boards to perform the study, as well as permission from the dataset owner to use the information in databases for the research they are performing. If permission to use information from a database is not required (e.g., it is publicly available, and unrestricted re-use is permitted under an open license), a statement explaining this must be included in the manuscript. For studies in which ethics approval has been waived, authors must state clearly in the manuscript and provide brief details of the waiver policy. The statement should include details of the policies under which the waiver was granted.

Authors must keep data anonymized. If participants' details are not to be anonymized, authors must ensure that written informed consent, including consent for publication, was obtained from each participant, and consent statement must be included in the manuscript.

3.1.4 Ethical Approval and Informed Consent for Survey Studies

Researchers must ensure the participant's right to confidentiality has been considered, and they must inform all participants about the aims of the research if there are any possible risks, and how the collected data is being stored. The voluntary consent to participate of participants should be recorded and any legal requirements on data protection should be adhered to. Same with all research studies, ethics approval from the IRB/local ethics committee for survey studies must be obtained before performing the study. If ethics approval for certain survey studies is not required, authors must include a statement to explain this clearly in the manuscript.

3.1.5 Trial Registration

OAE requires all authors to register all relevant clinical trials that are reported in manuscripts submitted. OAE follows the World Health Organization's (WHO) definition of clinical trials: "A clinical trial is any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. Interventions include but are not restricted to drugs, cells, other biological products, surgical procedures, radiologic procedures, devices, behavioral treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, etc.".

In line with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendation, OAE requires the registration of clinical trials in a public trial registry at or before the time of first patient enrollment. OAE accepts publicly accessible registration in any registry that is a primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform or in ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial registration number should be listed at the end of the Abstract section.

Secondary data analyses of primary (parent) clinical trials should not be registered as a new clinical trial, but rather reference the trial registration number of the primary trial.

Editors will consider carefully whether studies failed to register or had an incomplete trial registration. Because of the importance of prospective trial registration, if there is an exception to this policy, trials must be registered and the authors should indicate in the publication when registration was completed and why it was delayed. Editors will publish a statement indicating why an exception was allowed. Please note such exceptions should be rare, and authors failing to prospectively register a trial risk its inadmissibility to OAE journals.

Authors who are not sure whether they need trial registration may refer to ICMJE FAQs for further information.

3.2 Research Involving Animals

Experimental research on animals should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee and must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. OAE encourages authors to comply with the AALAS Guidelines, the ARRIVE Guidelines, and/or the ICLAS Guidelines, and obtain prior approval from the relevant ethics committee. Manuscripts must include a statement indicating that the study has been approved by the relevant ethical committee and that the whole research process complies with ethical guidelines. If a study is granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, the name of the ethics committee granting the exemption and the reason(s) for the exemption should be detailed. Editors will take account of animal welfare issues and reserve the right to reject a manuscript, especially if the research involves protocols that are inconsistent with commonly accepted norms of animal research.

3.3 Research Involving Cell Lines

Authors must describe what cell lines are used and their origin so that the research can be reproduced. For established cell lines, the provenance should be stated and references must also be given to either a published paper or to a commercial source. For de novo cell lines derived from human tissue, appropriate approval from an institutional review board or equivalent ethical committee, and consent from the donor or next of kin, should be obtained. Such statements should be listed in the Declaration section of Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate in the manuscript.

Further information is available from the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC). OAE recommends that authors check the NCBI database for misidentification and contamination of human cell lines.

3.4 Research Involving Plants

Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild), including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. Field studies should be conducted following local legislation, and the manuscript should include a statement specifying the appropriate permissions and/or licenses. OAE recommends that authors comply with the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

For each submitted manuscript, supporting genetic information and origin must be provided for plants that were utilized. For research manuscripts involving rare and non-model plants (other than, e.g., Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, Oriza sativa, or many other typical model plants), voucher specimens must be deposited in a public herbarium or other public collections providing access to deposited materials.

3.5 Publication Ethics Statement

OAE is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We fully adhere its Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines.

The Editors of this journal enforce a rigorous peer-review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to guarantee to addition of high-quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication. Unfortunately, cases of plagiarism, data falsification, image manipulation, inappropriate authorship credit, and the like, do arise. The Editors of JCA take such publishing ethics issues very seriously and are trained to proceed in such cases with a zero-tolerance policy.

Authors wishing to publish their papers in JCA must agree with the following:

• The author(s) must disclose any possibility of a conflict of interest in the paper before submission.
• The authors should declare that there is no academic misconduct in their manuscript in the cover letter.
• Authors should accurately present their research findings and include an objective discussion of the significance of their findings.
• Data and methods used in the research need to be presented in sufficient detail in the manuscript so that other researchers can replicate the work.
• Authors should provide raw data if referees and the Editors of the journal request.
• Simultaneous submission of manuscripts to more than one journal is not tolerated.
• Republishing content that is not novel is not tolerated (for example, an English translation of a paper that is already published in another language will not be accepted).
• Data fragmentation is not acceptable unless there are compelling reasons to present each fragment separately (for example: large datasets that are analyzed to address separate questions are justifiable).
• The manuscript should not contain any information that has already been published. If figures or images already have been published, the authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder to publish under the CC-BY license.
• Plagiarism, data fabrication and image manipulation are not tolerated.
• Plagiarism is not acceptable in OAE journals.

Plagiarism involves the inclusion of large sections of unaltered or minimally altered text from an existing source without appropriate and unambiguous attribution, and/or an attempt to misattribute original authorship regarding ideas or results, and copying text, images, or data from another source, even from your publications, without giving credit to the source.

As to reusing the text that is copied from another source, it must be between quotation marks and the source must be cited. If a study's design or the manuscript's structure or language has been inspired by previous studies, these studies must be cited explicitly.

If plagiarism is detected during the peer-review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, the violation will be disclosed in the journal and the manuscript may be retracted.

Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting data or results so that the findings are not accurately represented in the research record.

Image files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image.

Irregular manipulation includes introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image; grouping of images that should be presented separately, or modifying the contrast, brightness, or color balance to obscure, eliminate, or enhance some information.

If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer-review process, we may reject the manuscript. If irregular image manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may retract the paper.

OAE reserves the right to contact the authors' institution(s) to investigate possible publication misconduct if the Editors find conclusive evidence of misconduct before or after publication. OAE has a partnership with iThenticate, which is the most trusted similarity checker. It is used to analyze received manuscripts to avoid plagiarism to the greatest extent possible. When plagiarism becomes evident after publication, we will retract the original publication or require modifications, depending on the degree of plagiarism, the context within the published article, and its impact on the overall integrity of the published study. Journal Editors will act under the relevant COPE guidelines.

4. Authorship

Authorship credit of JCA should be solely based on substantial contributions to a published study, as specified in the following four criteria:
   1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
   2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
   3. Final approval of the version to be published;
   4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

All those who meet these criteria should be identified as authors. Authors must specify their contributions in the section Authors' Contributions of their manuscripts. Contributors who do not meet all the four criteria (like only being involved in the acquisition of funding, general supervision of a research group, general administrative support, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, proofreading, etc.) should be acknowledged in the section of Acknowledgement in the manuscript rather than being listed as authors.
If a large multiple-author group has conducted the work, the group ideally should decide who will be authors before the work starts and confirm authors before submission. All authors of the group named as authors must meet all four criteria for authorship.
AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as authors or co-authors.

5. Reviewers Exclusions

The authors are welcome to exclude a limited number of researchers as potential reviewers of their manuscripts. To ensure a fair and rigorous peer review process, the exclusions should be kept to a maximum of three people. If you wish to exclude additional referees, please explain or justify your concerns—this information will be helpful for Editors when deciding whether to honor your request.

6. Editors and Journal Staff as Authors

Editorial independence is extremely important and OAE does not interfere with editorial decisions. Editorial staff or Editors shall not be involved in the processing of their academic work. Submissions authored by Editorial Staff/Editors will be assigned to at least three independent outside reviewers. Decisions will be made by the Guest Editor, Consulting Editor, or other Editorial Board Members who do not have a conflict of interest with the author. Journal staff are not involved in the processing of their work submitted to any OAE journals.

7. Policy of the Use of AI and AI-assisted Technologies in Scientific Writing

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (e.g., large language models) are expected to be increasingly used to create content. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be used to write manuscripts or synthesize researcher data and draw conclusions from others' work. AI-based technologies could be used to improve the readability and language of manuscripts.

Text and data generated by AI and AI-assisted technologies must be carefully evaluated by the authors for accuracy as the programs are susceptible to erroneous output generation as they depend on the quality of the input data.

AI-based programs and chatbots or AI writers should not be listed as an author or co-author, nor cited as an author.

The use of AI and AI-assisted technologies should be disclosed by authors in their manuscripts, and a statement will be required in the final publication.

OAE will keep monitoring the development and adjust the policy when necessary.

8. Conflict of Interests

OAE journals require authors to declare any possible financial and/or non-financial conflicts of interest at the end of their manuscript and in the cover letter, as well as confirm this point when submitting their manuscript in the submission system. If no conflicts of interest exist, authors need to state "The authors declare no conflicts of interest". We also recognize that some authors may be bound by confidentiality agreements, in which cases authors need to state "The authors declare that they are bound by confidentiality agreements that prevent them from disclosing their competing interests in this work".

9. Editorial Process

9.1 Initial Check

9.1.1 Initial Manuscript Check

New submissions are initially checked by the Managing Editor from the perspectives of originality, suitability, structure and formatting, conflicts of interest, background of authors, compliance with the instructions for the authors, etc. Poorly prepared manuscripts may be rejected at this stage. If your manuscript does not meet one or more of these requirements, we will return it for further revisions.

9.1.2 Publishing Ethics

All manuscripts submitted to JCA are screened using iThenticate powered by CrossCheck to identify any plagiarized content. Your study must also meet all ethical requirements as outlined in our Editorial Policies. If the manuscript does not pass any of these checks, we may return it to you for further revisions or decline to consider your study for publication.

9.2 Editorial Assessment

Once your manuscript has passed the initial manuscript check, it will be assigned to an Assistant Editor, and then the Editor-in-Chief or other Editors in the case of a conflict of interest, will be notified of the submission and invited to review. Regarding the Special Issue paper, after passing the initial check, the manuscript will be successively assigned to an Assistant Editor, Guest Editor, and then to the Editor-in-Chief, or other Editors in the case of a conflict of interest for the Editor-in-Chief to review. The Editor-in-Chief, or other Editors may reject manuscripts that they deem highly unlikely to pass peer review without further consultation. Once your manuscript has passed the editorial assessment, the Editor-in-Chief will assign it to an Editor to organize a peer review.

9.3 Process

JCA operates a single-blind review process. The technical quality of the research described in the manuscript is assessed by a minimum of three independent expert reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of the manuscript. For controversial manuscripts, the Editor-in-Chief is responsible for making the final decision. Please note that all reviewers' comments along with the authors' responses will be posted online anonymously upon acceptance of the manuscript. On rare occasions, the Editor may edit a report to remove offensive language or comments that reveal confidential information about other matters.

9.4 Decisions

Your research will be judged on the technical soundness and robustness of the findings only, not on its perceived impact as judged by Editors or referees. There are three possible decisions: Accept (your study satisfies all publication criteria), Invitation to Revise (more work is required to satisfy all criteria), and Reject (your study fails to satisfy key criteria and it is highly unlikely that further work can address its shortcomings).

10. Contact Us

Journal Contact

The Journal of Cardiovascular Aging Editorial Office
Suite 1504, Plaza A, Xi'an National Digital Publishing Base,  No. 996 Tiangu 7th Road, Gaoxin District, Xi'an 710077, Shaanxi, China.
Tel: +86 (0)29 8954 0089

Wen Zhang
Managing Editor
editorialoffice@cardiovascularaging.com

Last updated on 14 Oct, 2023