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Publication Policy

PROCEDURES FOR MANUSCRIPT REVIEW BY THE CVRN PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Overview

Current CVRN guidelines require that all papers from the CVRN research program be reviewed by the CVRN Publications Committee. This review must occur before submission for review by a scientific journal or other source of publication. The entire CVRN publication policy may be downloaded from the CVRN website. Anyone planning to write a CVRN paper should read the policy before starting. The procedures presented here will be used by the Publications Committee in performing its review.

All accepted abstracts will also be reviewed by the Publications Committee. Abstracts and draft presentations should be submitted for review at least 10 business days prior to the date of presentation.

Submission of manuscripts and accepted abstracts to the Publications Committee

Manuscripts, accepted abstracts, and draft presentations to be reviewed by the Publications Committee should be sent electronically to the chair(s) of the Publications Committee.

Review criteria

The Publications Committee reviews manuscripts to ensure that the following binding criteria are met:

  • The Project PI has approved the paper.
  • Each health plan name and research center name appear according to the site PI’s preference.
  • Clear affiliation with the CVRN is acknowledged and adequately described. CVRN affiliated projects are expected to include the following sentence in the methods section: “This study was conducted within the Cardiovascular Research Network, a consortium of research organizations affiliated with the HMO Research Network and sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) (U19 HL91179-01).”
  • No conflicts with other CVRN papers or writing groups.
  • No serious or major scientific flaws in study design or data interpretation.
  • With respect to the last point, the Publications Committee may provide content feedback and suggestions for the authors, but these comments generally will not influence the Committee's decision to approve or disapprove the manuscript. However, if the Committee believes that the manuscript contains flaws in methodology or interpretation of data that are sufficiently serious that they reflect negatively on the scientific integrity of the CVRN, then the manuscript will be disapproved. If the author disagrees with this disapproval, the issue and decision may be discussed with members of the Publications Committee or brought before the CVRN Steering Committee for resolution.

Time for review

The Publications Committee will make every effort to review papers, accepted abstracts, and draft presentations within 10 business days of receipt.

Review Structure

Two members of the Publications Committee, assigned on a rotating basis, will review each submitted paper. These Committee members will share their review comments with all other Committee members. All Committee members will have the option of reviewing a selected manuscript or accepted abstract. Committee members are asked to review papers within seven business days of receipt, and the Committee Chair(s) will make the approval decision based on the available comments.

NHLBI Publication Policies

In order to stay informed of findings from large studies and to prepare for press queries, NHLBI's Division of Prevention and Population Sciences requests, as a courtesy, that the Project Officer receive copies of manuscripts at the time of journal acceptance or before, particularly for "high-profile" papers. "High profile" papers generally include the following:

  • Main results papers or key secondary results papers from clinical trials;
  • Papers with direct clinical implications, particularly if they impact NHLBI policies (e.g., for hypertension control);
  • Papers on potentially sensitive topics (e.g., on the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and blood pressure);
  • Papers published in high impact journals, such as NEJM, JAMA, and Lancet.

NIH Public Access Policy

In accordance with federal law, the NIH requires the submission of all published articles resulting from NIH-funded research to PubMed Central. Please refer to the following website for additional information relating to the NIH public access policy - http://publicaccess.nih.gov/

Appeals

As stated above in the CVRN Publications Policies, decisions of the Publications Committee can be discussed directly with Publications Committee members and appealed to the Steering Committee.


CONTACTING THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Routine communications should be sent to the CVRN Project Director (). An additional contact is the Chair of the Publications Committee.

Download the CVRN Publications Policy - August 2008