As 2025 comes to an end, I look back on the past 6 years of Heart Rhythm O2 (HRO2) and am so grateful for the success of the journal, made possible only because of our readers, reviewers, editorial members, and Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Publications staff.
Our submissions continue to increase with more than 700 new manuscripts in 2025, an 84% increase over 2024 rates. Transfers from Heart Rhythm have also increased, representing 43% of all submissions to HRO2. 41% of transferred papers are accepted.
HRO2 was the journal home for 2 HRS committee documents in 2025: Rojel et al, Current state of arrhythmia care in Latin America: A statement from the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society,1 and Pundi et al, Integrating wearables into the modern electrophysiology practice: A proposed framework for the use of wearables and creation of a remote digital clinic.2
In last year’s State of the Journal editorial, I noted that HRO2 would reflect the mainstreaming of innovation and digital medicine in electrophysiology. Over the past year, we have published 7 articles on these topics. Dr Hamid Ghanbari is leading this content as Deputy Editor and published an introductory editorial, titled “What is innovation?”3; he has invited authors to submit 4 review topics to be published in 2026. We are also excited to partner with the HRX digital technology and innovation meeting. HRO2 featured 4 HRX 2025 papers from the HRX Innovation Summit covering broad topics.
HRO2 represents the global community of electrophysiology and arrhythmia health care providers. In 2025, 63% of published articles were from outside of the United States; the top 3 countries are Japan, China, and the United Kingdom.
One of the most highly cited articles so far in 2025 was from Kassar et al, Atrial FDG uptake and atrial fibrillation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.4 In addition to citations, a measure of journal success includes how often manuscripts are downloaded. The top 3 downloaded papers of 2025 were (1) Pauraj et al, Arrhythmias and cannabis use: A comprehensive overview,5 (2) Wesołek et al, Antithrombotic therapy in atrial flutter: To anticoagulate or not, that is the question,6 and (3) Ma et al, Uncovering the mystery of the atrioventricular node dual-pathway electrophysiology.7
Although an imperfect measure of journal success, the Clarivate Impact Factor remains the most commonly accepted method. HRO2’s Impact Factor has continued to increase and reached 2.9 in June 2025, reflecting the prior 2 years of publication.
Our Global Voices section continues to publish broadly from multiple countries, including India, Syria, Qatar, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Egypt, South Africa, Cameroon, Argentina, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Chile, and the United Kingdom. We were pleased to publish 14 abstracts from the African Heart Rhythm Association Cardio-Rhythm Congress 2025 meeting, published in the September 2025 issue. Our other special sections have been active, publishing articles in our Allied Health Professionals and Design Papers sections and case reports in our Fellows Corner. In addition, our social media presence continues to grow, with over 4,200 followers on the journal’s X account and over 6,200 followers on the HRS Journals LinkedIn account.
In 2026, we look forward to impactful publications that meet the interests of our readership and showcase excellence in research.
As always, I call out the fantastic HRO2 journal staff—Jeremy Rosenberg, Brianna Gallagher, Kristin Murray, and Lori Monteleone.
Wishing you all a safe, healthy, and joyful 2026!
Disclosures
The author has no conflicts to disclose.
Acknowledgments
Funding Sources
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
References
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