Heart is a biweekly peer-reviewed

Peer review

Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...

 medical journal covering all areas of cardiovascular medicine and surgery

Cardiology

Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...

. It is the official journal of the British Cardiac Society. It was established in 1939 as the British Heart Journal and is published by the BMJ Group. The journal went online with HighWire Press

HighWire Press

HighWire Press is a division of the Stanford University Libraries that produces the online versions of high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly content...

 in 1999.

Topics covered include coronary disease

Coronary disease

Coronary disease refers to the failure of coronary circulation to supply adequate circulation to cardiac muscle and surrounding tissue. It is already the most common form of disease affecting the heart and an important cause of premature death in Europe, the Baltic states, Russia, North and South...

, electrophysiology

Electrophysiology

Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...

, valve disease, imaging techniques, congenital heart disease

Congenital heart defect

A congenital heart defect is a defect in the structure of the heart and great vessels which is present at birth. Many types of heart defects exist, most of which either obstruct blood flow in the heart or vessels near it, or cause blood to flow through the heart in an abnormal pattern. Other...

 (fetal, paediatric and adult), heart failure, surgery

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

, and basic science

Fundamental science

Fundamental science is science that describes the most basic objects, forces, relations between them and laws governing them, such that all other phenomena may be in principle derived from them following the logic of scientific reductionism. Biology, chemistry and physics are fundamental sciences;...

. Each issue contains an extensive continuing professional education

Continuing Professional Development

Continuing professional development or Continuing professional education is the means by which people maintain their knowledge and skills related to their professional lives.-CPD research:...

 section (Education in Heart) and the section "JournalScan", highlighting important papers from outside the cardiology literature.

Heart is available online by subscription and archived editions of the journal (older than one year) are available free of charge. It is edited by Adam D Timmis.

Heart was also the former title of the journal Clinical Science

Clinical Science (journal)

Clinical Science is a peer-reviewed medical journal that covers all areas of clinical investigation, with a focus on translational science and medicine...

.

Education In Heart

Education in Heart is a continuing education section within the journal that comprises three main articles and an European Board for Accreditation in Cardiology-accredited multiple choice question. It provides educational material for consultants in cardiovascular medicine. Education In Heart is created in partnership with BMJ Learning.

Abstracting and indexing

Heart is indexed by Index Medicus

MEDLINE

MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care...

, Web of Science

Web of Science

ISI Web of Knowledge is an academic citation indexing and search service, which is combined with web linking and provided by Thomson Reuters. Web of Knowledge coverage encompasses the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. It provides bibliographic content and the tools to access, analyze,...

 and Excerpta Medica

EMBASE

Embase is an online information source of published literature designed to supportinformation managers and pharmacovigilance in complying with the regulatoryrequirements of a licensed drug. Through its unique and comprehensive content coverage,...

. According to the Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports is an annual publication by the Healthcare & Science division of Thomson Reuters. It has been integrated with the Web of Knowledge, by Thomson Reuters, and is accessed from the Web of Science to JCR Web. It provides information about academic journals in the sciences and...

, its 2009 impact factor

Impact factor

The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed...

 is 5.385, ranking it 9th out of 73 journals in the category "Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems".

Heart has been cited most often by the following journals: Heart, International Journal of Cardiology

International Journal of Cardiology

The International Journal of Cardiology is a a peer-reviewed medical journal that publishes research articles about the study and management of cardiac diseases...

, Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Journal of the American College of Cardiology

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of cardiovascular disease, including original clinical studies, experimental investigations with clear clinical relevance, state-of-the-art papers, viewpoints, and editorials and essays...

, Circulation

Circulation (journal)

Circulation is a scientific journal published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins for the American Heart Association. The journal publishes articles related to research in and the practice of cardiovascular diseases, including observational studies, clinical trials, epidemiology, health services and...

, and the American Journal of Cardiology

American Journal of Cardiology

The American Journal of Cardiology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of cardiology and general cardiovascular disease. It is independent from the American College of Cardiology....

. The journals which Heart has cited most often are: Circulation

Circulation (journal)

Circulation is a scientific journal published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins for the American Heart Association. The journal publishes articles related to research in and the practice of cardiovascular diseases, including observational studies, clinical trials, epidemiology, health services and...

, Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Journal of the American College of Cardiology

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of cardiovascular disease, including original clinical studies, experimental investigations with clear clinical relevance, state-of-the-art papers, viewpoints, and editorials and essays...

, Heart, The New England Journal of Medicine, and American Journal of Cardiology

American Journal of Cardiology

The American Journal of Cardiology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of cardiology and general cardiovascular disease. It is independent from the American College of Cardiology....

.