The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is a non-profit professional society founded in 1949 and headquartered in Washington, DC. Beyond guidelines, registries, and education for its 56,000+ members, the ACC runs one of the most influential journal families in clinical medicine: the JACC Journals. The flagship Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC, est. 1983) is among the highest-impact cardiovascular journals in the world, and nine subspecialty titles extend the brand across imaging, interventions, heart failure, electrophysiology, translational science, cardio-oncology, case reports, and regional and broad-scope open access.

The journals are owned by the ACC and published in partnership with Elsevier, so authors interact with Elsevier infrastructure (Editorial Manager, ScienceDirect hosting, Elsevier open-access agreements) while editorial control sits with ACC-appointed editors. This guide covers how to pick the right JACC title, what each publishes, open-access options and APCs, peer review, and submission logistics.

10 peer-reviewed journals, all in cardiovascular medicine:

• JACC - the flagship, publishing original clinical research, state-of-the-art reviews, and ACC/AHA guideline documents. 2024 Journal Impact Factor around 22.
• Subspecialty subscription titles - JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, JACC: Heart Failure, and JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology, each a leading journal in its niche.
• Fully open-access titles - JACC: Basic to Translational Science (2016), JACC: CardioOncology (2019), JACC: Case Reports, JACC: Asia (2021), and JACC: Advances (2022).

The ACC also produces clinical guidelines (jointly with the AHA), the NCDR registries, and ACC.org education content - but the JACC family is its scholarly publishing arm.

Half of the JACC family is fully open access, and the subscription titles offer hybrid OA through Elsevier. APCs below are the DOAJ-listed prices as of 2026 (USD, before tax); always confirm on the journal's own fees page before submitting.

Licenses on OA articles are CC BY or CC BY-NC-ND, at the author's choice. Green self-archiving follows Elsevier's standard sharing policy, and authors at institutions with Elsevier read-and-publish agreements may have hybrid or Gold APCs covered - check your library or the ESAC registry.

JACC journals use single-anonymized peer review: reviewers know the authors' identities, authors do not know the reviewers'. The flagship JACC is highly selective, with a large share of submissions declined before external review. Subspecialty titles are somewhat less competitive, and editors commonly offer transfer of sound but out-of-scope or lower-priority manuscripts to another JACC title, including the OA journals.

1. Pick the journal using the decision table above, and read recent issues to confirm scope fit.
2. Read the author instructions on jacc.org for your target title - article types, word limits, and figure specs differ across the family.
3. Format your manuscript. JACC journals use AMA-style numbered references; SciSpace templates for the JACC family handle the formatting automatically.
4. Submit via Editorial Manager, Elsevier's submission system used across the JACC family.
5. Consider transfer offers. If declined at one JACC title, a transfer to a sister journal keeps your reviews and saves resubmission time.

The ACC is a COPE member, and the JACC family follows COPE guidance and ICMJE recommendations: ORCID and disclosure requirements, clinical-trial registration, and structured conflict-of-interest reporting. Retractions and corrections are handled through Elsevier's COPE-aligned research-integrity processes.