JACC Case Reports: A Year of Transformation

JACC: Case Reports is celebrating almost 2 years of its presence in the cardiovascular peer-reviewed publishing world. The Journal has reached its adolescence after growing rapidly over the past few years. Last year was a difficult one, and this editorial starts by acknowledging all the victims of the pandemic and the frontliners who put up a great fight against COVID-19.

The Journal During the Pandemic

In February 2020, we received the first submission to the Journal on COVID-19 by Bettari et al. (1) describing how doctors would be protected inside the catheter laboratory while performing a high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Recognizing that COVID-19 was unique, we needed to understand the cardiovascular manifestations and help as many people as possible. Initially, we thought that it only affected the lungs, but we soon realized that the cardiovascular manifestations had a broad spectrum, from myocarditis or stress cardiomyopathy up to thrombotic events, from acute coronary syndromes to pulmonary embolism. Therefore, together with our publishing partner Elsevier, we decided to waive all publishing fees for all COVID-related papers across the JACC journals accepted through the end of May 2020 and to expedite publication of all manuscripts related to COVID-19 to help educate the community as much as possible.

It is remarkable that we received almost 1,000 manuscripts related to COVID-19. As an editorial board, we had to select manuscripts for publication that would provide a fair representation of all cardiovascular presentations. Our challenges as an editorial board were to maintain the high quality of JACC journal standards, to publish those documents that provided evidence of causation and were accompanied with high-quality imaging. On a daily basis, we would discuss these submissions among deputy and associate editors, providing an expedited turnaround time for decisions to facilitate the authors’ work and to quickly give them the opportunity to submit elsewhere if their manuscripts did not achieve priority for publication in the Journal.

It also was an opportunity for our Voices in Cardiology section to serve as a forum for frontline workers to share testimonials about the situation in their respective countries and their personal and professional perspectives on the pandemic. This was a way to connect and, as we said from the beginning, to be fighting the pandemic in unity: “We are in this together.” I (JG) kept writing on the Journal’s new issue alerts, stressing solidarity and teamwork, principles that have helped us navigate the turbulent waters of the pandemic.

Importantly, we have also published a few incredible Viewpoints by colleagues who helped provide the Journal’s audience with a better understanding of the pandemic. The acquaintance of basic principles of the intensive care unit to the cardiologist by Drs Ann Gage and Ankur Kalra is one of the first manuscripts we shared in March 2020 (2). Another important manuscript was by Drs Garima Sharma, Annabelle Volgman, and Erin Michos on the sex differences of COVID-19 (3). These manuscripts fueled the launch of large trials that will further advance a more complete understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19.

Mentoring Program

Another innovative program to arise from JACC: Case Reports last year was a pilot mentoring program on peer review and publishing. In August 2020, we received an e-mail in which a young colleague from Thailand was expressing her thoughts on writing and publishing, specifically questioning: Is this a gift or is it a matter of training? Who would warrant opportunities? We felt that a large part of our mission from the Journal’s birth is to provide learning opportunities to young people and serve as a vehicle of education and mentoring. Therefore, we need to teach colleagues about how to evaluate a manuscript, to participate in the peer review process and potentially being a valuable part of the editorial board of a journal in the future.

We received more than 100 applications from around the world, and the Editorial Board selected 39 participants who were each paired with a mentor. Through lectures and allocation of tasks, we continue to help them learn the value of peer review, publishing, open access, institutional subscription, original research, statistical analysis, and much more. We express our gratitude to the entire JACC journals family and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) publication committee for their support of this initiative. We express our gratitude also to Dr Fred Kusumoto, who delivered lectures during this mentoring program and demonstrated the high quality of publishing and original research. These efforts are ongoing, so expect more to come.

Media and Webinars During the Pandemic

During this difficult time, we have missed seeing each other in person. From early in 2020, we felt that webinars and journal clubs would be a good way to bring people together. Every month, we prepared a video on varied clinical topics. Furthermore, we established collaboration with ACC Imaging Council, led by Drs. Marcelo di Carli and Lawrence Rudski. On a quarterly basis, we presented a Virtual Journal Club with live questions and answers on a topic. Another quarterly collaboration for the Journal is the one with the Egyptian Association of Vascular Biology and Research and colleagues Drs Elsayed Mohamad Farag and Ashraf Reda.

We also produced hugely successful podcasts with a focus on bringing young colleagues together with senior experts to have an active discussion over a podcast. The outreach of the JACC journals podcast surpasses 875,000 downloads. Finally, you also had the opportunity to watch several wonderful sessions on JACC journals channel during the ACC.21 Scientific Sessions.

Focus on Innovation

JACC: Case Reports published several “first-in-human” manuscripts, as well as procedures, devices, and medical therapy that have the potential to be the future in our clinical practice and may set the beginning of large clinical trials. We feel that JACC: Case Reports is a platform of innovation on which we learn from the cases of each of our unique, individual patients. Therefore, the study of such cases is a great way to find alternative management solutions and of course, through our clinical practice, indicate any potential evidence gaps in existing guidelines. We continue to welcome innovative clinical care presentations to the Journal.

What the Future Holds

We are truly proud to continue to offer a platform of mentoring and education. The future is bright, and the audience gives us the strength and ideas to do even more, including establishing new educational opportunities through clinical cases. From July 2021 onward, we will publish our Journal on a biweekly basis, owing to the overwhelming submission volume. Furthermore, we will continue interacting with the Journal’s audience through social media, podcasts, and webinars. We welcome suggestions and ideas to become better. We grow together. Therefore, if you have any suggestions, please email us (jacccr@acc.org) and let us know what you think.

With this Editor’s Page, we thank all our authors, Editorial Board, and JACC journals staff for their contribution and endless work. Without each of you, nothing would have been possible.

Looking forward to a bright future.