The ESC Publications Committee: scope, successes, and challenges 2009–20

The evolution of mankind from hunters and gatherers to farming, industrial production, digital technology, and modern medicine has become possible through knowledge and transfer to colleagues and the next generation, i.e., through innovation and education. From observations and everyday learning, science has developed as a sophisticated means of producing knowledge, tools, and machines. Indeed, scientific publishing began thousands of years ago, when the Greek philosophers, such as Thales and Anaximander of Milet, wrote books about the earth, elements, and humans beyond religious beliefs.1 Journals appeared much later, i.e., in the 17th and 18th century. Ever since, their number has grown immensely and today around 2.5 million papers are published annually. With the rise of China and India, these numbers will grow further. It is the mission of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to reduce the burden of cardiovascular (CV) disease through innovation and education. The ESC fosters innovation by providing platforms for researchers at their Annual Congresses and education for its participants. Furthermore, its journals and textbook disseminate with ever-increasing speed scientific discovery. To oversee and foster these educational products and their quality, the ESC created the ESC Publications Committee (ESC PubComm), which assembles all editors of ESC Journals and textbooks, as well as their supportive staff and the scientific publishers. The ESC PubComm deals with journals and textbooks, while the ESC Congresses are organized and supervised by the ESC Congress Program Committee. In January 1980, the ESC launched its first scientific journal, the European Heart Journal (EHJ), with Desmond Julian as editor. Ever since, the journal has grown in quality, reach, and impact under further editors, i.e., Henri Kulbertus (1989–94), Kim Fox (1995–2002), Frans Van De Werf (2003–08), and since 2009, Thomas F. Lüscher.2 Now, as of late 2020, Filippo Crea has taken over the flagship journal. In 1997, Richard Sutton and Panos Vardas suggested the first specialty journal, EuroPace, soon followed by an increasing number of other products (Figure 1). Since 2009, the ESC Journal family has massively grown under the new leadership with the introduction of the EHJ Acute Cardiac Care, EHJ CV Pharmacology, EHJ Case Reports, the EHJ Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes, the Open Access Journal ESC Heart Failure and the expansion of EuroEcho to the EHJ CV Imaging (Figure 1A). The most recent journal is EHJ Digital Health starting in Q4 2020. Current bibliometric data of the ESC journals are shown in Figure 1B. Bibliometric data of the ESC journal family. Textbooks are the classical educational tool for students, trainees, and young consultants. In 2006, the ESC decided to create a CV textbook and John A. Camm, Thomas F. Lüscher, and Patrick W. Serruys were nominated as editors of the first edition of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine,3 followed by a 2nd edition 3 years later.3 In 2019, a revised, two-volume ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine was published. An electronic database, the so-called ESC CardioMed, was added which is now part of the professional membership of the ESC. The innovative concept of ESC CardioMed is the fact that it is continuously updated. Indeed, editors meet on a weekly basis to update all 775 chapters of more than 2000 authors, and to create new ones on topics such as COVID-19 and PCSK9 -among others to accommodate the ongoing growth of CV knowledge. In addition, the ESC published a series of specialty textbooks supervised and approved by the ESC Publications Committee on acute cardiac care, imaging, and other topics. With the inflation of scientific publishing, quality standards are as necessary as ever before. Indeed, an average reader may neither have the time nor motivation to assess the credibility, quality, and importance of all published reports; therefore, the peer review system was invented with the aim to select the most important findings, to help authors to improve their work and to provide readers with reliable information. Henry Oldenburg (1618–77) invented peer review during his term as Secretary of the Royal Society.4 As the editor of the Philosophical Transactions, he felt uncomfortable as a theologist to assess papers from other fields. He therefore relied on the advice of colleagues. A peer is an individual of the same rank, an equal before the law and today a person of scientific standing. Ever since, scientific journals gained credibility and reputation as reliable sources of knowledge. To assess the quality of manuscripts, five principles are of importance: (i) honesty; (ii) precision; (iii) novelty; (iv) stringency and (v) timing.4 Indeed, scientific findings must be reported exactly as obtained. Only a precise description of the methods allows scientific findings to be reproduced, and reproducibility is the key feature of scientific knowledge. Obviously, only honestly reported findings will stand the test of time, which is the key feature of true findings.5 As outlined by Sir Karl R. Popper,6 true statements will stand the test of time, while others are falsified. Scientific discoveries, by definition, must be novel. Novelty may be incremental or fundamental. The latter is rare and may lead to a new paradigm guiding the scientific process, as outlined by Thomas S. Kuhn.7 Then, scientific papers need to be stringent, clearly written, logically structured and easy to understand. Finally, timing is crucial, as only timely findings can be innovative and stimulate the scientific process. The ESC Journal Family strictly follows these principles and the ESC PubComm coordinates and supervises their interaction and performance. A major aspect of the interaction of the ESC Journal Family is manuscript transfer, initiated in 2009. The EHJ transfers hundreds of manuscripts more suitable for specialty journals. Their editors may consider them based on the reviews of the EHJ and publish them after revision. At their meeting in June 2020, the ESC PubComm decided to expand manuscript transfer in between specialty journals as many manuscripts may better suited for a different journal than initially submitted. This strategy helps authors to find the most appropriate journal for their work and the ESC Family members to grow in size and impact. The ESC journals have massively grown in reach and impact over the last decade, e.g., downloads increased impressively with 12 Mio for the EHJ and substantial downloads for others (Figure 1B). In addition, the impact factor of ESC journals increased. Indeed, all journals except EHJ Quality of Care and Clinical Outcomes received impact factors with some being among the best in their field (Figure 1B). Today, social media are equally important, and the ESC Journal Family is supported by the European Heart House team with Tweeting and press releases to boost their Atlmetric score, a new assessment of journal impact. Indeed, a randomized journal showed recently that Tweeting increases citations of scientific articles. 8 Science is built on trust and editors have to rely on the honesty of the authors, otherwise science cannot work. Unfortunately, not all comply with the rules of science and integrity. 9 Indeed, editors increasingly receive allegations from readers and whistleblowers that need to be handled. In response to that, the ESC PubComm established the ESC Journals Ethics Committee, chaired by Maarten Simoons.10 Together with his team, he evaluates allegations from readers, whistleblowers, journalists, or concerns by editors and provides advice. Recently, attention grew on the diversity of patients: the young and elderly differ as much as males and females, as well as individuals of different ethnicity.11 Indeed, acute coronary syndromes are more common in males, while Takotsubo syndrome and spontaneous coronary dissections are more common in females. Similarly, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction is more common in males and that with preserved ejection fraction in females.12 Finally, hypertension and diabetes are more common in certain ethnicities than in others. To address that, the EHJ, and soon also other EHJ Journals, will implement recommendations on data reporting.11 Currently, all ESC journals are publishing with a subscription model (except ESC Heart Failure and soon EHJ Digital Health), whereby readers or their institution pay, while submitting is free. The editors label 1–2 papers of each issue as Editor’s Choice which are freely accessible, while the remaining papers become open only after 12 months. The hybrid model has the big advantage that it provides funding to run large editorial offices, as required for high impact journals. Of note, editorial services, statistical reviewing, illustrations, as well as news sections require resources. Not the least, subscription provides income for educational societies such as the ESC and many others a service for their members. Recently, the Welcome Trust, and the European Union, presented Plan S to make open access mandatory for all journals. Plan S would change the business model of publishing completely. Under this regimen, the authors have to pay, while for readers access is free. While open access provides immediate access, also hybrid journal such as the EHJ get 12 million downloads per year (Figure 1B). A disadvantage of open access is the huge manuscript handling fees required for high impact journals which would be a burden for authors from less affluent economies. Therefore, the ESC PubComm took the stand that hybrid journals should continue to be allowed. Also, few open access journals have reached acceptable impact factors. Whether or not Plan S will be able to change publishing remains to be seen. To that end, the decision of US journals and of the National Institute of Health will be essential. Thus, in summary, the ESC Publications Committee has done an excellent job over the last decade in expanding and fostering the ESC Journal Family, through manuscript transfer, corporate identity, quality, as well as reach and impact. Furthermore, the ESC Publications Committee has provided textbooks of the highest quality: indeed, the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine was awarded the British Medical Association’s ‘Best Cardiology Textbook of the Year Award’ in 2019 and many other books are highly popular. Conflict of interest: none declared. Biography: Professor Lüscher studied medicine at the University of Zurich and obtained the board certification in internal medicine and cardiology. He trained in cardiovascular research and in cardiology, and specifically in echocardiography, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, USA, and was later Professor of Pharmacotherapy at the University of Basel, then Professor of Cardiology at the University of Berne, before assuming a position as Professor and Chairman of Cardiology and Director of the University Heart Center at the University Hospital Zurich and Director of the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. He is now Director of Research, Education & Development and Consulting Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Trust, and Professor of Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College in London.