Journal profile · Medicine-Surgery
Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery
ISSN 2225-319X · eISSN 2304-1021 · AME Publishing Company · China
Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.04; fully open access; median 88 days to acceptance (100 articles, last 24 months); 75 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is published by AME Publishing Company and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Cardiac Valve Diseases and Treatments, Aortic Disease and Treatment Approaches and Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis and Management, together about 45.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Surgery. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery (ACS, Ann Cardiothorac Surg, Print ISSN 2225-319X; Online ISSN 2304-1021) is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the field of cardiothoracic surgery. ACS is indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. The primary objective of ACS is to provide critical analysis and a comprehensive overview of contemporary topics within cardiothoracic surgery. This is accomplished through the unique and innovative format of each published issue. Each issue is overseen by a special Guest Editor, who is an international authority on the subject. The topics are thoroughly explored through categorized sections: Systematic Reviews, Featured Articles, Editorials, Masters of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Art of Operative Techniques (invited article only). The second objective of ACS is to facilitate and stimulate the discussion and sharing of pertinent clinical information amongst surgeons and physicians concerned with the surgical treatment of heart and lung diseases. ACS aims to provide a visible and accessible platform through the establishment of moderated online forums dedicated to the addressed topic from each issue. This will encourage continuous and dynamic exploration of the topic, even well after the initial release of the special issue. ACS is an innovative journal, with a distinct format, that will provide significant contributions in the ongoing understanding of cardiothoracic surgery. ACS is published by AME Publishing Company, with support from Wolters Kluwer (the journal content will be made available on Wolters Kluwer Health’s Lippincott and Ovid platforms). Indexing Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is indexed and covered by Web of Science [Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)] PubMed PubMed Central (PMC) Scopus Google Scholar Ovid Information for Authors ACS is a member of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and it follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s guidelines and the ICMJE recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journal. Manuscripts submitted must be the original work of the author(s) and must not be published previously or under consideration for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts Turnaround Time In-house review: 1-3 weeks External peer review: 1-3 months Publication Ahead of Print: within 1 month after being accepted (with APC payment received) Formal publication: within 1-3 months after being accepted (with APC payment receive
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine-Surgery
Editor-in-chief Tristan D. YanPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 5%); most named United States 28, Australia 14, Italy 11, United Kingdom 7, Germany 6 (81 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cardiac Valve Diseases and TreatmentsMedicine21.3%
- Aortic Disease and Treatment ApproachesMedicine16.6%
- Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis and ManagementMedicine8%
- Cardiac and Coronary Surgery TechniquesMedicine7%
- Cardiac Structural Anomalies and RepairMedicine6%
- Aortic aneurysm repair treatmentsMedicine5.6%
- Congenital Heart Disease StudiesMedicine5.5%
- Mechanical Circulatory Support DevicesEngineering5.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: yes
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 4.04LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.08LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.55LetPub ·
- h-index
- 61OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 462OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.6OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 42LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,050 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 62 | 62 | 85 |
| 2025 | 75 | 75 | 219 |
| 2024 | 73 | 73 | 453 |
| 2023 | 86 | 86 | 767 |
| 2022 | 83 | 83 | 921 |
| 2021 | 137 | 137 | 1,631 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with PubMed · to
88 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 58 days – 121 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 22 days (75 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 135 days
- Sample
- 100 articles with submission and acceptance dates (147 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Peer review
- Single-anonymous peer reviewPublisher website · model-extracted
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessOpenAlex
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare7 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 6,000 words
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional, 3
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
Article types accepted8, with length limits
- editorialSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…main text ≤ 800 words · references ≤ 10
- letter to the editorThe Editors welcome letters related to papers and multimedia articles previously published in ACS. These can be submitted online in response to a specific artic…main text ≤ 500 words
- meta-analysisSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…Length not stated
- opinionSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…Length not stated
- original articleSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…Length not stated
- reviewSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…main text ≤ 6,000 words
- review articleSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…Length not stated
- systematic reviewSystematic Reviews with or without Meta-analyses A comprehensive, scholarly, balanced, systematic review of evidence-based literature including all findings; th…main text ≤ 6,000 words · abstract ≤ 300 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteConflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Conflicts of interest 2.5.2 Conflicts of interest
At the time of submission, each author must disclose and describe any involvement, financial or otherwise, that might potentially pose a conflict of interest. The disclosure must be included in the text of the manuscript.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 4. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Authors must state that the protocol for the research project has been approved by a suitably constituted Ethics Committee of the institution within which the work was undertaken and that it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in Edinburgh 2000), available at: http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm. The Annals retains the right to reject any manuscript based on unethi…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright 7. COPYRIGHT
Papers accepted for publication in the Annals become copyright of ACS and the corresponding author will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright form on behalf of all authors. In signing the transfer of copyright, it is assumed that authors have obtained permission to use any copyrighted or previously published material. All authors must read and agree to the conditions outlined in the Copyright A…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access Statement
The Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. All content of ACS is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). All articles published open-access will be immediately and permanently free for all to read, download, copy, and distribute as defined by the applied license.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 11. REVIEW PROCESS
The reviewers' evaluations and Associate Editor's comments are compiled by the Editor-in-Chief for disposition and transmission to the authors. A decision is usually made within four weeks of the submission of the manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief will advise authors whether a manuscript is accepted, should be revised, or is rejected. Minor revisions are expected to be returned within two weeks of t…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- AME Publishing Company
- Country or region
- China
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2225-319X
- Electronic ISSN
- 2304-1021
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 15, Issue 4 (July 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery
What CAS zone is Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems / Surgery. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.04; CiteScore 5.1, h-index 61.
How long does peer review take at Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery?
Based on the dates recorded on 100 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 88 days (interquartile range 58–121 days). Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What are the manuscript requirements of Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 6,000 words; Reference style: Vancouver; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional, 3; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: Optional. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery based?
Of the 81 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 5%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (28), Australia (14) and Italy (11). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery open access, and what is the APC?
Annals of Cardiothoracic Surgery is a fully open-access journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-25). Last updated: .