Editor's page Revista Española de Cardiología: Keeping Its Finger on the Pulse of the Digital Age

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Internet access has truly revolutionized many fields, especially medicine. Together with the possibility of carrying out literature searches swiftly and with ease, access to the contents of scientific journals is one of the key attractions of the internet for medical professionals. Almost all medical journals can be found online and offer open access either to full text articles or to abstracts only, in which case a subscription is required to access the complete article. Today, it is no longer necessary to go to a library to read the most up-to-date information.

As mentioned in previous articles in the Editor's Page,^1,2 keeping the website of Revista Española de Cardiología (REC) (www.revespcardiol.org/en) fresh and up-to-date has been a major priority of the current editorial board from the outset. In the present article, we wish to inform our readers of all the changes made to the website in the last 3 years.

INTRODUCTION

The website was completely redesigned in 2010, overseen by the associate Editor in charge of the electronic version, Dr. Pablo Avanzas. To facilitate access and literature searches, a simple, functional design was chosen to allow intuitive access to information. A bilingual Spanish/English version became available, with a more powerful browser, and the contents were organized under the following headings: Articles in Ahead of print, Regular issues, Archive, Supplements, and Committees. The menu on the right side bar is updated periodically and stores different material, as described below.

HOME PAGE

The changes made to the home page have 3 main aims:

• 1.

  To optimize the visible space and improve some of the information that it already contained

• 2.

  To introduce a monthly video of an interview with the author of the “Article of the Month”, chosen by the Editor

• 3.

  To enhance the visibility of the journal's archive and facilitate access to all the information published previously and that included in Ahead of print

The home page provides direct access to articles grouped under subject headings and to images of the month and the image bank, which are now more visible and are classified by subject area. In addition, there are direct links to the annual Update series, clinical practice guidelines, access for subscribers and to social networks, the Editor’ pick, e-mail alerts, manuscript submission, and the REC blog. There are also links to the documents of the scientific sections of the Spanish Society of Cardiology, the articles generated by the journal Editors’ networks that include REC (European Society of Cardiology, ESC National Society Cardiovascular Journals Editors’ Network, and the Editors’ Network of Iberoamerican Cardiovascular Journals) and presentations at National Congresses of the Spanish Society of Cardiology made in the last few years.

All in all, the changes made have aimed to improve the management and accessibility of REC's huge archive and to facilitate access to this resource by all our readers.

NEW FEATURES

Ahead of Print

Perhaps the most important initiative undertaken by the journal is the Ahead of print section. Starting in 2011, changes in production, together with the website's modernization, have enabled accepted manuscripts to be published online much earlier than in the print journal. This form of publication, undertaken by most high-prestige journals, is accompanied by a digital object identified, which identifies each article and allows it to be cited from the moment it is published online. Moreover, as recently mentioned,² ahead of print publication is now completely bilingual. Simultaneous Spanish/English publication of articles on our website and in PubMed within 66 working days of their acceptance is currently a reality and is one of the most valuable initiatives undertaken by the journal to improve its services to authors.

Image of the Month

All the images in the Ahead of print version and those published in the last 2 years can be accessed from the home page, classified by subject area to aid readers’ searches. Each month the home page features an image from the current issue.

Editor's Videos

Each issue contains an original article chosen by the Editor for its scientific or practical importance. In 2012, these articles received special mention on the website with a comment in the REC blog. Since 2013, with the increased importance assigned to the website as the journal's archival and educational platform, these articles have been accompanied by a video and are open-access.

National Congress of the Spanish Society of Cardiology

Starting in 2012, the special issue of the Congress of Cardiovascular Diseases has been published exclusively online, in pdf and html, allowing readers to easily locate abstracts by author, title or key words, using the website's advanced search function. The editorial board has achieved a goal set as a priority in 2012: that online publication of the special issue precede the National Congress of the Spanish Society of Cardiology. In addition, previous issues (from 2010 onwards) have been digitalized so that they appear in the new format. Thus, we have managed to respond to a common request by our readers: that searching by the field of author yield not only of articles published in the journal, but also presentations at the congresses with digitalized issues.

Blog

The website's blog (blog.revespcardiol.org) has been highly active (there are currently more than 200 entries) and provides news about the journal. Until the introduction of the video format for the Editor’ pick in 2013, this was the space where a comment would be posted monthly on an article selected by the Editor. The blog also posts comments by the Editor on articles by Spanish authors published in other, high-prestige journals, as well as the abstracts of 3 international congresses (the American College of Cardiology, the European Society of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association). Information on the sessions of these congresses is uploaded to the website on the same day as the sessions are held in the congresses, and is translated to Spanish, sometimes with figures, together with links to simultaneous publication, if relevant.

Social Networks

The widespread use of social networks has produced an unprecedented improvement in communication among physicians, nurses, researchers, patients, and everyone interested in health. For biomedical journals, Twitter offers a simple way to share information straight from the source. At REC, we have tried to take advantage of Twitter and periodically tweet news about the journal or major congresses through our account (@RevEspCardiol). At the time of writing, we have more than 500 followers.

The Immediate Future

As a next step, the Editorial Board intends to make all the information about the journal available on smartphones. We are working hard to bring this project about in the next few months and to allow readers to access the journal's contents through devices that work on Android. We are currently reviewing a beta version of REC for iPad, which, in the near future, can be used to download a program from the Apple Store that will allow access to the journal's editorial content through these devices.

WEB TRAFFIC

The REC website received almost 2 million visits in 2012 (and is well on the way to exceeding that figure in 2013), representing a 25% increase over the previous year. More than 3 600 000 pages were consulted in 2012, representing 8% more than in 2011. The main sources of traffic were google.com, the website of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (www.secardiologia.es), and PubMed. As shown in Figure 1, the website is accessed practically worldwide. Most visits in 2012 were from Spain, followed by Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. The United States occupied the eighth position in 2012 but, at the time of writing, has risen to fifth place (Fig. 1). The English version received 323 893 visits in 2012, representing 16% of the website's activity. Table 1 shows the 3 most downloaded articles in 2012. We would like to highlight the interest in the Editor’ pick and the REC Blog, which, together, received 40 000 visits in 2012. Also notable is the success of the coverage of Late Breaking Clinical Trials, which are presented in the Blog during the congresses of the American College of Cardiology, European Society of Cardiology, and American Heart Association, proof of which is the number of visits received while these congresses were being held. The latest figures confirm users’ positive response to the changes made. Thus, between January and August 2013, and compared with the same period in 2012, the number of visits and pages viewed clearly increased in both the English and Spanish versions (Fig. 2).

Figure 1.

Visits to the website of Revista Española de Cardiología by geographical area (data from January to August 2013).

Table.

Most Accessed Articles in www.revespcardiol.org/en in 2012

Spanish

Hamm CW, Bassand JP, Agewall S, Bax J, Boersma E, Bueno H, et al. Guía de práctica clínica de la ESC para el manejo del síndrome coronario agudo en pacientes sin elevación persistente del segmento ST [ESC guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndrome in patients without persistent ST-segment elevation]. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(2):173.e1-e55

Gaztañaga L, Marchlinski FE, Betensky BP. Mecanismos de las arritmias cardiacas [Mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias]. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(2):174-85

Almendral J, Castellanos E, Ortiz M. Taquicardias paroxísticas supraventriculares y síndromes de preexcitación [Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias and preexcitation syndromes]. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(5):456-69

English

Gaztañaga L, Marchlinski FE, Betensky BP. Mechanisms of Cardiac Arrhythmias. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(2):174-85

Arrebola-Moreno AL, Laclaustra M, Kaski JC. Noninvasive Assessment of Endothelial Function in Clinical Practice. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(1):80-90

Monteforte N, Napolitano C, Priori SG. Genetics and Arrhythmias: Diagnostic and Prognostic Applications. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(3):278-86

Figure 2.

Visits and pages viewed on the website of Revista Española de Cardiología. Comparison between January-August 2012 and 2013.

Given the constant evolution of technology, REC has aimed to take advantage of new developments and adapt them to its readers. The Editorial Team wishes to thank all users who daily consult the website. You provide our greatest motivation for improvement.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

None declared.

Acknowledgments

We would not wish to close this summary of the changes made to the website without sincerely thanking the work and dedication of Eva Cardenal, Iria del Río, and María González, without whom Revista Española de Cardiología, would not be possible. In addition, our day-to-day collaboration with our publisher, Elsevier, has been fruitful and, in particular, we would like to acknowledge Toni Rodríguez.