In 2023, Revista Española de Cardiología (Rev Esp Cardiol)1,2 completed its second year under the guidance of the current editorial team. This article provides a review of recent activity, primarily focused on consolidating and advancing the initiatives proposed during the first year.
IMPACT FACTORAs reported in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) data for 2022 (published in 2023), the impact factor for Rev Esp Cardiol was 5.9, maintaining the journal's standing in the first quartile of cardiovascular publications. This statistic was anticipated with some uncertainty due to recent changes in impact factor calculations, stemming from the debate surrounding early access content and the measures to mitigate the effect of COVID-related articles. These issues are believed to have contributed to the observed increase in impact factors among most journals in the preceding 2 years. The current edition of JCR reveals a widespread decrease in impact factor among journals. Notably, among all categories in the JCR data for 2021, 72% of journals in the first quartile experienced a decline in impact factor in 2022. Furthermore, among journals in the first quartile of JCR in 2021, 42% saw their impact factor decrease by more than 10% in 2022. In keeping with this shift, the impact factor for Rev Esp Cardiol also decreased by around 1 point, but in the context of this general decline, the journal has maintained its position among cardiovascular publications. The historical low of 13% for self-citation, highlighting the journal's robustness is worthy of note. Judging by the citations received, original articles on heart failure and epidemiology attracted the most interest, suggesting that research activity in these 2 subspecialties is particularly intense in Spain. The article receiving the largest number of citations in this edition was “Impact of COVID-19 on ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction care. The Spanish experience” by Rodríguez-Leor et al.3 This study won an award from the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC) as the article published in Rev Esp Cardiol with the strongest international impact.
EDITORIAL ACTIVITYThe total number of submissions received, including original articles, scientific letters, and images in cardiology, is shown in figure 1. There was a modest recovery in the number submissions received in 2023 compared with the historical low in 2022. However, submissions are still lower than the historical peak reached in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The notable decreasing trend in scientific letter submission, already evident in 2022, has persisted. It is plausible that the editorial team's current policy of rejecting scientific letters containing a single clinical case may have had a certain dissuasive effect. We believe that the scientific letter format is useful for producing short hypothesis-generating articles and presenting brief case series. We therefore encourage authors to submit letters conforming to this perspective.
The distribution of original articles submitted to the journal by categories is shown in figure 2. There was a predominance of articles on epidemiology (n=85), followed by heart failure (n=57), ischemic heart disease (n=43), and interventional cardiology (n=42). More than half the original articles submitted (55%) came from Spain (figure 3), and 62% of the total were in English (figure 4). This indicates that a considerable number of Spanish articles were submitted in English. The acceptance rate for original articles was 17%, very similar to the previous year (figure 5). Additionally, in 2023, Rev Esp Cardiol continued publishing review articles by well-known experts,4–8 special documents,9,10 and national registries of clinical activity related to interventional cardiology, ablation procedures, pacemaker implantation, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator interventions, and heart transplants.11–15
Articles submitted in English were made available in that language in the preliminary test format 20 days after acceptance on the journal's website and 18 days later in Medline. We view this prompt response as an achievement of Rev Esp Cardiol and wish to acknowledge the efforts of the editorial office and our publisher, Elsevier, in making this possible. Publication in Medline of articles submitted in Spanish took somewhat longer, as the version indexed in Medline is in English rather than Spanish, translation into English is required before these articles can appear in this repository. However, starting in January 2023, we began releasing a preliminary version in the second language on both our website and ScienceDirect with the aim of hastening dissemination of these articles.
REVIEW PROCESSReviewers’ dedication and expertise are fundamental values at Rev Esp Cardiol. Once again, we express our gratitude to our reviewers for their commitment to the journal. Table 1 and table 2 contain a comprehensive list of all Rev Esp Cardiol reviewers and elite reviewers. Elite reviewer recognition is determined through an automated calculation that includes the number of evaluations and their quality and speed. The reviewers’ average turnaround time for evaluating an original article was 10.5 days (figure 6). This excellent and consistent performance has been maintained year after year. We believe that attempts to speed up this process could jeopardize the quality of the reviews.
Professionals who collaborated as reviewers for Revista Española de Cardiología in 2023
| Juan Acosta |
| María Ajejas |
| Finn Akerström |
| Arístides Alarcón |
| Alejandro Alcaine |
| Manuel Alcázar |
| Guillermo Aldama |
| Josep M. Alegret |
| Fernando Alfonso |
| Luis Almenar |
| Manuel Almendro |
| Joaquín Alonso |
| Rafael Alonso-González |
| Gonzalo L. Alonso-Salinas |
| Alberto Alperi |
| Miguel Álvarez |
| Jesús Álvarez-García |
| Carlos Álvarez-Ortega |
| Ignacio J. Amat |
| Dominick Angiolillo |
| Manuel P. Anguita |
| Eduardo Arana |
| Javier Aranceta |
| Miguel Á. Arias |
| Albert Ariza |
| Eduardo Armada |
| Ángel Aroca |
| Vicente Arrarte |
| Antonio Arrebola |
| Dabit Arzamendi |
| Pablo Ávila |
| Juan J. Badimón |
| Enrique J. Balbacid |
| José Banegas |
| Alfredo Bardají |
| José Barrabes |
| Ana Barradas |
| Manuel Barreiro |
| Roberto Barriales |
| Teresa Bastante |
| Javier Bautista |
| Antoni Bayés-Genís |
| José A. Baz |
| Víctor Bazán |
| Víctor M. Becerra |
| Javier Bermejo |
| Francisco J. Bermúdez |
| Marcelino Bermúdez |
| J. Luis Bernal |
| Giuseppe Biondi |
| Sara Blasco |
| Zorba Blázquez |
| Vicente Bodí |
| Clara Bonanad |
| Araceli Boraita |
| Serge Boveda |
| Sem Briongos |
| Josep Brugada |
| Héctor Bueno |
| David Calvo |
| Enrique Calvo |
| Francisco E. Calvo |
| Naiara Calvo |
| Óscar Campuzano |
| Raquel Campuzano |
| Pedro Caravaca |
| Juan Caro |
| Amelia Carro |
| Antonio Cartón |
| José M. Castellano |
| Sergio Castrejón |
| Antonio J. Castro |
| Víctor Castro |
| Pedro Cepas |
| Francisco J. Chorro |
| Marta Cobo |
| Miguel Á. Cobos |
| Antonio Coca |
| Pau Codina |
| Luciano Consuegra |
| Ramón Corbalán |
| Alberto Cordero |
| Juan Cosín-Sales |
| Eliecer Coto |
| David Couto |
| Guillermo Cuervo |
| Emilio Cuesta |
| Regina Dalmau |
| Tomás Datino |
| José A. de Agustín |
| Fernando de Frutos |
| Javier de Juan Bagudá |
| Rafael E. de la Espriella |
| Jesús M. de la Hera |
| José M. de la Torre-Hernández |
| Irene R. Dégano |
| M. Jesús del Cerro |
| Raquel del Valle |
| Mónica Delgado |
| Francisco Díaz |
| José F. Díaz |
| Leonel Díaz-González |
| Jesús Díaz-Gutiérrez |
| Beatriz Díaz-Molina |
| Elena Díaz-Peláez |
| Javier Díez |
| Carles Díez-López |
| Pablo Díez-Villanueva |
| David Dobarro |
| Adelina Doltra |
| Juan A. Domingo |
| Fernando Domínguez |
| Jorge N. Domínguez-Macías |
| Laura Domínguez-Pérez |
| Alberto Domínguez-Rodríguez |
| Ignacio Dorado |
| Laura Dos |
| Alejandro Durante |
| Sonia Eiras |
| Rocío Eiros |
| Jaime Elízaga |
| Cristina Enjuanes |
| Daniel Enríquez |
| Carlos Escobar |
| Laura Escolà-Vergé |
| Pilar Escribano |
| Alberto Esteban |
| Rodrigo Estévez |
| Vicente Estrada |
| Marta Farrero |
| Ángel L. Fernández |
| Juan Fernández-Armenta |
| Agustín Fernández-Cisnal |
| José A. Fernández-Díaz |
| Covadonga Fernández-Golfín |
| Nuria Fernández-Hidalgo |
| Rodrigo Fernández-Jiménez |
| Ignacio Fernández-Lozano |
| Alejandro Fernández-Montero |
| Carlos Fernández-Palomeque |
| Diego Fernández-Rodríguez |
| Marcos Ferrández |
| Ignacio Ferreira-González |
| José L. Ferreiro |
| Carlos Ferrera |
| Adolfo Fontenla |
| Eduardo Franco |
| Carlos Galán |
| María Gallego-Delgado |
| Juan García de Lara |
| Carlos García Santos-Gallego |
| Ana García-Álvarez |
| Ignacio García-Bolao |
| Alberto García-Lledó |
| Inés García-Lunar |
| Xavier García-Moll |
| Rocío García-Orta |
| Antonio García-Quintana |
| José A. García-Robles |
| Jessica García-Suárez |
| Juan R. Gimeno |
| Pablo Gómez del Arco |
| Manuel Gómez-Bueno |
| Juan J. Gómez-Doblas |
| Dulcenombre Gómez-Garre |
| Joan A. Gómez-Hospital |
| M. Carmen Gómez-Rubín |
| Esther González |
| David González-Calle |
| José González-Costello |
| Juan J. González-Ferrer |
| José R. González-Juanatey |
| Arantxa González-Miqueo |
| Violeta González-Salvado |
| José M. González-Santos |
| Esteban González-Torrecilla |
| Francisco González-Vílchez |
| José L. Górriz |
| Eduard Guasch |
| José M. Guerra |
| Enrique Gutiérrez-Ibañes |
| Iván Hernández-Betancor |
| Felipe Hernández-Hernández |
| Francisco J. Hernández-Pérez |
| Javier Higueras |
| Ignacio Iglesias-Garriz |
| Raban Jeger |
| Carmen Jiménez |
| David Jiménez |
| Marta Jiménez-Blanco |
| Javier Jiménez-Candil |
| Manuel F. Jiménez-Navarro |
| Pilar Jiménez-Quevedo |
| Santiago Jiménez-Valero |
| Pablo Jorge |
| Alfonso Jurado-Román |
| Adnan Kastrati |
| Won-Keun Kim |
| Enrique Lara |
| José M. Larrañaga |
| María Lázaro |
| Pablo Loma-Osorio |
| Juan C. López-Azor |
| Esteban López-de-Sá |
| José López-Haldón |
| Manuel López-Meseguer |
| Diego López-Otero |
| Ramón López-Palop |
| Rebeca Lorca |
| Íñigo Lozano |
| Álvaro Macías |
| Begoña Manso |
| Francisco Marín |
| Manuel Marina |
| Gerard Martí |
| María Martín |
| Beatriz Martín-Fernández |
| Pilar Martín-Fernández |
| Pedro Martínez |
| Isaac Martínez-Bendayán |
| Eduardo Martínez-Gómez |
| Sergio Martínez-Hervás |
| Amparo Martínez-Monzonís |
| José L. Martínez-Sande |
| Manuel Martínez-Sellés |
| Pilar Mazón |
| Andrea Mazzanti |
| Ana Méndez |
| Irene Méndez |
| Dolores Mesa-Rubio |
| Sonia Mirabet |
| Ángel L. Miracle |
| Cristina Mitroi |
| Javier Modrego |
| Pedro Moliner |
| Emilio Monguió |
| Manuel Monreal |
| Elena Montañés |
| Juan M. Monteagudo |
| Vanessa Moñivas |
| Cesar Morís |
| Guillermo Muñiz |
| Antonio J. Muñoz-García |
| José Nativi |
| Luis Nombela |
| Francisco J. Noriega |
| Julio Núñez |
| Iván J. Núñez-Gil |
| Estefanía Núñez-Sánchez |
| Soledad Ojeda |
| Carolina Ortiz |
| Joaquín Osca |
| Armando Oterino |
| Julián Palomino |
| Manuel Pan |
| Isaac Pascual |
| Rafael Peinado |
| Laura Peña |
| Pablo Peñafiel |
| Daniel Pereda |
| Diego Pérez |
| Leopoldo Pérez de Isla |
| Armando Pérez de Prado |
| Esther Pérez-David |
| Antonia Pijuan |
| Jesús Piqueras |
| Gonzalo Pizarro |
| María N. Pizzi |
| Julia Playán |
| Marta Pombo |
| Andreu Porta |
| Eduardo Pozo |
| Susanna Prat |
| Raquel Prieto |
| Juan Puig |
| Valentina O. Puntmann |
| Juan Quiles |
| Jorge G. Quintanilla |
| Raúl Ramallal |
| Antonio Ramos |
| Diego Rangel |
| Sergio Raposeiras-Roubín |
| Susana Ravassa |
| Carlos Real |
| Elena Refoyo |
| Ander Regueiro |
| María A. Restrepo |
| César Ríos |
| Juan J. Ríos |
| Tomás Ripoll |
| Mercedes Rivas |
| José Rivera |
| Luis Rodríguez-Padial |
| José F. Rodríguez-Palomares |
| María J. Rodríguez-Puras |
| Nieves Romero-Rodríguez |
| José Rozado |
| María J. Ruiz-Cano |
| Juan M. Ruiz-Nodar |
| Ricardo Salgado |
| Rafael Salguero |
| Luisa Salido |
| Pablo Salinas |
| Adriana Saltijeral |
| José A. San Román |
| Inmaculada Sánchez |
| Ángel Sánchez-Recalde |
| Miriam Sandín |
| Elena Sandoval |
| Marcelo Sanmartín |
| Enrique Santas |
| Javier Sanz |
| María Sanz de la Garza |
| Georgia Sarquella |
| Sebastian I. Sarvari |
| Javier Segovia |
| Aida Serra |
| Jacobo Silva |
| Alessandro Sionis |
| Marta Sitges |
| Laura Sommerfeld |
| Maite Subirana |
| Antonio Tello |
| Gabriela Tirado |
| M. Teresa Tomé |
| Jorge Toquero |
| Rocío Toro |
| Yale Tung Chen |
| Leire Unzué |
| Irene Valverde |
| Ravi Vazirani |
| Rafael Vidal |
| Gemma Vilahur |
| Eduardo Villacorta |
| David Vivas |
| Juan I. Zabala |
| Eduardo Zatarain |
| Esther Zorio |
In the scientific letter format, we published the top 2 clinical cases presented in the SEC's Clinical Cases League.16,17 As was done the year before, these articles were accompanied by an editorial comment highlighting their most instructive elements.18,19
Two awards for articles published in Rev Esp Cardiol were presented at the 2023 SEC Congress. The first award is for the best article whose first author is a cardiology resident in a Spanish hospital,20 and the second award is for the best original study whose first author is a cardiology specialist aged 40 years or younger.21 Both these awards aim to encourage research among emerging Spanish cardiologists. We are concerned about the somewhat limited involvement of young professionals in research activities. The cause is multifactorial and an analysis goes beyond the scope of this article, but we believe it is appropriate to mention the problem. Improving this situation should be a shared objective of all Spanish cardiologists and related subspecialties. At Rev Esp Cardiol, we believe that the stimulating task of peer reviewing could be an appealing way to engage this group in scientific publication.
SupplementsA single supplement, New Approaches In Residual Cardiovascular Risk,22 was published in 2023. As announced in 2022, publication of REC Supplements has been temporarily discontinued since then. In addition, a special issue was published containing all communications presented at the 2023 SEC Congress held in Malaga.23
Ethical considerationsIn keeping with international guidelines, articles in Rev Esp Cardiol now have a specific section entitled “Ethical considerations” that includes information on ethics committees, consent procedures, and adherence to the SAGAR guidelines, as well as a statement on the use of artificial intelligence tools.
Social mediaThe journal continues to maintain a dynamic presence on social networks. As of January 1, 2024, there were 21 654 followers (1500 new followers in 2023) in the REC Publications account24 in X (formerly Twitter), and 10 891 followers on Facebook.25 Interviews with our featured authors are published regularly on the Rev Esp Cardiol blog26 and the SEC website, and through the SEC News and other Society newsletters. We wish to express our gratitude to the ICT consultant for REC Publications, Juan Quiles, for his outstanding contribution to our social media endeavours.
WebsiteWe believe that the Rev Esp Cardiol27 website would benefit from an update to make its content more user-friendly and appealing. This may be one of the most exciting goals established for 2024, and we are pleased to announce that we have already taken the first steps in this direction.
REC PUBLICATIONSIn 2023, there was a notable increase in the number of articles that could not be accepted for publication in Rev Esp Cardiol. However, many of these articles were offered the option to transfer to one of the other 2 publications within the SEC scientific journal family, REC Publications, with particular emphasis on original articles (figure 7). The number of authors accepting this proposal has grown substantially.
We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the editorial teams of both these journals for their accomplishments in 2023. REC: Interventional Cardiology28 has achieved its first impact factor (1.4), while REC: CardioClinics29 has experienced a significant increase in the number of submissions.
The article entitled “Predictors of sudden death in dilated cardiomyopathy: Beyond the presence of late gadolinium enhancement”,30 authored by Rodríguez-Sánchez et al., received the second-place prize in the 2023 Magda Heras Awards for the Best Published Studies in Iberoamerican Cardiovascular journals. From this edition onward, Rev Esp Cardiol has transferred management of the Award to the InterAmerican Society of Cardiology and has voluntarily withdrawn its participation.
CONCLUDING COMMENTSThe current international situation for cardiology journals is highly competitive. The increasing number of publications, some of them within well-established journal families, is a compelling incentive for authors to submit their articles. In addition, the emergence of the open access model in numerous journals is significantly changing the scientific publishing landscape. In this regard, there is a growing trend among funding agencies and public institutions to prioritize the publication of research results in open access format.
Within this complex scenario, it is important to highlight 2 key aspects. First, the unwavering commitment of Rev Esp Cardiol to Spanish cardiologists. Their articles have positioned the journal at the forefront of cardiovascular publications. Second, the consistent support for Rev Esp Cardiol from the successive executive committees of the SEC, which has been essential for the viability of our journal.
FUNDINGNone.
CONFLICTS OF INTERESTNone.
First, we would like to express our gratitude for the professional work of the editorial office at REC Publications (Eva M. Cardenal, María González-Nogal, Belén Juan, Helena Gómez-Lobo, and Javier Esquinas), directed by Iria del Río.
Furthermore, we wish to highlight, once again, the efforts of the translation and correction teams. Their rigorous work and attention to detail are instrumental in preserving the bilingual nature of our journal. We continue to rely on a skilled team of professionals with years of experience linked to the journal, coordinated by Gail Craigie, copyeditor of the English version. Their work is essential for sustaining the international prestige of our publication, spotlighting the prominence of Spanish cardiology. Finally, we extend our thanks to all departments of Casa del Corazón for their work, which contributes to the success of the REC Publications family.