New journal on cardiovascular pharmacotherapy from ESC

A new ESC journal on cardiovascular pharmacotherapy is launched today at ESC Congress by the ESC and Oxford University Press.

European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy officially starts publishing in 2015. A special launch issue has been produced for ESC Congress 2014 with editorials and a call for papers. The journal's website goes live in September.

Editor in chief Professor Stefan Agewall said: "We aim to become the number one journal in the field of clinical cardiovascular pharmacology within a couple of years. The strength of this journal is being part of the ESC journal family with the EHJ as the mother journal. Currently there is no daughter journal covering clinical pharmacology and there is a need for one. Neither are there similar daughter journals from Circulation or JACC."

He added: "The EHJ rejects 9 out of 10 papers right now and this proportion is likely to increase in the future. Many of these are good papers in clinical pharmacology and could be sent to our new journal using the transfer system which is already in place in the family."

Professor Agewall continued: "Pharmacology is an extremely important part of cardiology today. Nearly every patient with cardiac disease is on some kind of medication. Already there are almost half a million references to 'cardiovascular pharmacology' in MEDLINE and the number of papers within this area is growing very fast. More studies are needed to improve outcomes of patients with cardiovascular disease which is the most common cause of death globally."

The journal aims to improve the pharmacological treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. It will attract authors with a high quality, fast review process which enables articles to be rapidly published online. The journal will publish original research, invited editorials commenting on research papers, and invited reviews by prestigious authors.

Four issues will be published in 2015. Professor Agewall said: "The number of issues will increase yearly with the goal of producing a monthly publication within 5 to 6 years."

An expert and respected editorial board has been recruited from across the globe. Professor Agewall brings significant clinical, research and editorial experience to his role as editor in chief. Currently professor and senior consultant in cardiology at Oslo University Hospital and Oslo University in Norway, he has worked in cardiology for 20 years splitting his time between clinics, research and education.

He said: "My clinical work is primarily in the coronary care unit where there is an intense focus on cardiovascular medications. Anticoagulation and antiplatelet treatment are just two examples of treatments where new developments are eagerly anticipated."

Professor Agewall has been principal investigator on several pharmacological trials and has more than 160 peer reviewed publications in the cardiovascular field. He is the next chairperson of the ESC Working Group on Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Drug Therapy, a member of the EHJ editorial board and an associate editor of Atherosclerosis.

He concluded: "European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy will hopefully soon be the leading journal in this particular area of cardiology. We will be the place to go for the latest developments and expert comment in this rapidly expanding and exciting field."