Publication Guide
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is the definitive professional society for cardiovascular medicine in Europe and one of the most influential in the world. Founded in 1950 and headquartered at the European Heart House in Sophia Antipolis, France, the ESC publishes a family of 18 peer-reviewed journals spanning the full cardiovascular spectrum - from the flagship European Heart Journal (EHJ) to basic-science, subspecialty, nursing, and fully open-access titles. The entire family is published in partnership with Oxford University Press (OUP), which handles production, hosting on Oxford Academic, open-access licensing, and Read & Publish agreements.
If you work in cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, imaging, electrophysiology, heart failure, or preventive medicine, an ESC journal is likely on your submission shortlist. This guide covers how the family is organized, what each tier publishes, open-access options and APCs, the peer-review workflow, and how to submit.
Which ESC journal fits your paper?
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a practice-changing clinical trial or major cohort study | European Heart Journal - the flagship, 2025 Impact Factor 45.6, second of 237 journals in Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems. Highly selective. |
| Have basic or translational cardiovascular science | Cardiovascular Research - the ESC's basic-science flagship, covering molecular and cellular cardiology through translational work. |
| Work on arrhythmias, pacing, or electrophysiology | EP Europace - the ESC/EHRA electrophysiology journal. |
| Work on heart failure | European Journal of Heart Failure (selective, hybrid; 2025 Impact Factor 10.3) or ESC Heart Failure (fully open access, broader scope). |
| Work on imaging, prevention, acute care, pharmacotherapy, or cardio-oncology | One of the EHJ subspecialty titles - EHJ Cardiovascular Imaging, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, EHJ Acute Cardiovascular Care, EHJ Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, EHJ Cardio-Oncology, and others. |
| Need a fully open-access, broad-scope venue | EHJ Open (~$3,625 APC, sound-science criteria) or EHJ Digital Health for digital cardiology. |
| Have a teaching case | EHJ Case Reports - fully open access. |
What the ESC publishes
The family comprises 18 titles: European Heart Journal; Cardiovascular Research; EP Europace; European Journal of Heart Failure; ESC Heart Failure; European Journal of Preventive Cardiology; European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing; European Heart Journal Supplements; and the EHJ subspecialty series (Cardiovascular Imaging, Acute Cardiovascular Care, Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes, Case Reports, Digital Health, Cardio-Oncology, Imaging Methods and Practice, Valvular and Structural Heart Disease, and EHJ Open). Several titles are official journals of ESC associations - for example, the European Journal of Heart Failure belongs to the Heart Failure Association (HFA) and EP Europace to the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). The ESC also publishes its influential Clinical Practice Guidelines in the European Heart Journal.
Open access and APCs
| Route | What it covers | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard licence (non-OA) | Available on hybrid titles such as EHJ, Cardiovascular Research, EP Europace, and EJHF - you grant the ESC an exclusive publishing licence | Free |
| Gold OA journals | EHJ Open, EHJ Digital Health, EHJ Case Reports, ESC Heart Failure | EHJ Open ~$3,625; others vary - check the journal's page |
| Hybrid OA | CC BY or CC BY-NC option on subscription titles | Roughly 5,000; confirm on OUP's per-journal price list |
| Read & Publish | OUP institutional agreements covering the APC for affiliated corresponding authors | Free to the author if eligible |
Paying ESC members receive a 20% APC discount on EHJ Open, and OUP grants partial or full waivers to authors from low- and middle-income countries. There are no submission fees. Green self-archiving of the accepted manuscript is permitted under OUP's standard policy.
Peer review
ESC journals use single-anonymized peer review: reviewers know the authors' identities, but not vice versa. The flagship EHJ is highly selective, and several titles support format-free first submission and direct transfer of preprints from medRxiv. Rejected manuscripts are frequently offered transfer to another journal in the family, so a strong cardiovascular paper often finds a home within the ESC portfolio.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Match your paper's subfield and evidence level to the tiers above.
- Read the instructions for authors. Each title has its own OUP author page; most accept format-free initial submissions.
- Prepare your manuscript. Use the journal's SciSpace template and Vancouver-style references.
- Submit via Editorial Manager. The EHJ family journals use Editorial Manager (the family previously used ScholarOne; check your target journal's link).
- Choose your licence at acceptance. Standard licence (free) or open access (CC BY / CC BY-NC with APC).
Ethics and integrity
The ESC journal family follows COPE guidance on publication ethics, and OUP is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM. Trials must be registered and reported per ICMJE recommendations, conflicts of interest disclosed, and retractions handled under COPE procedures. Data-availability statements are expected on clinical and basic-science papers per each journal's policy.
