Launching Nature Cardiovascular Research: Why this journal is important for the cardiovascular research community

From January 2022, Nature Cardiovascular Research will publish original research articles, reviews, news and opinion articles. In this blog post, Chief Editor, Vesna Todorović, explains how the journal will meet the needs of the cardiovascular research community.

Q: Why is Nature Cardiovascular Research being launched?

Vesna Todorović (VT): Cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death and morbidity worldwide, and finding effective ways to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure these complex diseases is paramount to scientific, clinical, pharmacological and public health cardiovascular and hematology communities. Nature Cardiovascular Research will provide a unifying publishing platform and a discussion forum that caters to scientists across the entire spectrum of disciplines focused on cardiovascular and blood health. In addition, the journal will expand content on the wider societal relevance of cardiovascular research e.g. public health issues that will inform policy-makers.

Q: Why is Nature Cardiovascular Research an important title for the community?

VT: Owing to higher morbidity and death, the requirement for greater insights to cardiovascular research has increased over the past few decades. Nature Cardiovascular Research will distinguish itself from competitors as it will cater to all scientific disciplines related to cardiovascular and blood health, from basic, translational and clinical research to epidemiology and public health. It would represent the first and thus unique publication platform where scientists of very different backgrounds interested in cardiovascular and blood biology would be able to publish and discuss their work in one place.

Q: What other considerations did you take when undertaking pre-launch research?

VT: Aside from meeting the needs of the community, we considered the greater level of uncertainty customer budgets might be facing and chose this title as it has a large discipline base and funding streams that we think will be attractive to both researchers and librarians.

Q: Nature Portfolio is a unique publisher in that each title has a dedicated editorial team. What does the Nature Cardiovascular Research team bring to this journal?

VT: The journal is led by a team of dedicated PhD-level scientists, each with an extensive research background and strong community ties in one or several of the journal’s key themes. The team will partner with authors to champion their manuscripts and bring their most significant work to our readership. They will commission Review and Perspective articles that summarise original research and present an overview of recent developments or a new and rapidly-developing research area. The editorial team will also strengthen and expand the ties to the community by sourcing peer reviewers for each article, by organizing conferences and promoting interactions between academic and industrial researchers via virtual conference attendance, and virtual (or in-person) lab visits. We are approachable and more than willing to engage in conversations with authors and referees both in pre-launch and post-launch periods to shorten the path to successful publication. 

Q: Cardiovascular research is a rapidly growing field. What advances are you most interested in, and how will Nature Cardiovascular Research fit with the research?

VT: The goal of our team is to create a journal that would equally represent very diverse communities characterized by different approaches and yet all focused on cardiovascular and blood biology in health and disease. The Nature family of journals have built its long-lasting reputation by publishing authoritative primary research works. We want to create a platform that will be of equal interest to basic researchers and practicing clinicians, drug developers and public policy-makers. We want to appeal to all these different communities by publishing and disseminating their best works to promote a coordinated and unified effort in preventing, treating, and curing cardiovascular disease that will in turn affect public health policies. 

To learn more about licensing this new journal, please see our landing page.