REC: Interventional Cardiology. Fulfilling an unmet need

Dear colleagues,

This is one of those assignments that one willingly accepts with joy. Have the opportunity to present the birth of our most exciting project so far is an honor and a pleasure. When we joined the board of directors of the «working group» —the most commonly used term to refer to our Working Group on Hemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology (SHCI) at the Spanish Society of Cardiology— we committed ourselves to the development and implementation of this project. Yet we did not know whether we would be able to deliver the first issue before our term was over. Well, here it is. On time. And all the credit in the world should go to our unbelievable editorial team: the enthusiasm from Dr. de la Torre Hernández, MD as editor-in-chief; the determination from Dr. Alfonso, MD and Dr. Sanchis, MD, and the coordination from Iria del Río as head of the editorial team. From the very first meeting where we felt the warmth and support from both Dr. Ferreira, MD -the actual editor-in-chief of Revista Española de Cardiología- and the Spanish Society of Cardiology executive committee, our board of directors started working giving full back up to this project.

But why jump into the creation of an interventional cardiology journal? Although we had always discussed it in our meetings, the spark that lit the fuse was an e-mail sent by Dr. Romaguera, to several colleagues interested in research studies back in 2017. The success of Revista Española de Cardiología had already achieved in the first quartile in the impact factor scale among cardiology journals made it very hard for authors to actually publish. As a matter of fact, barely 10% to 20% of the original papers received are finally published meaning that over 300 original papers are rejected every year. The unanimous believe is that Spanish research is excellent: both Spanish researchers and our Latin American colleagues have a great production of excellent papers. Why then go to other journals where our language is not even a thing? After analyzing the journal feasibility, we made the decision that this would be our most important project.

The very first decisions that we made would come easy. Spanish, English, or bilingual? Bilingual. Paper or digital edition? Digital. And even though this first issue is also printed on paper, we believe that the spread of knowledge is basically digital in this day and age. Picking the editorial team, the calendar of events, the editorial committee and council, the relation we would keep with Revista Española de Cardiología, our innovation goals, etc., were decisions we made along the way until we faced the most complex part of the project: its economic feasibility. What would the best publishing model be for our new journal? Soon we decided that it was the open access model the one we were looking for. Cost zero for both authors and readers. This would facilitate the spread of knowledge. It seemed easy at the beginning, but then we had to find the funding. And here is where we want to show our gratitude for the support we have had from all our collaborator at SHCI who, year after year, have been supporting all our training and research initiatives. In the back cover of this issue we actually thank ALL those who have contributed to make this dream a reality when we asked for help. We decided that this project would be so universal that all sponsors would need to provide specific back up to its development. And we hope they stay with us for years to come because it certainly has been a team work. Thank you very much indeed.

Well, here is your new journal: REC: Interventional Cardiology. The fight to become what we envisioned (a good, innovative scientific interventional cardiology journal that will be indexed in the main bibliometric indexes and have a high impact factor in the years to come) depends on one thing and one thing only: your enthusiasm. We need your help to turn what we dreamed about into a reality. The first original papers, cases, images, etc., have already been sent. It will be the editorial committee that will be requiring continuity in this scientific flow from you, meaning that this continuity actually depends on you.

From our standpoint -the SHCI board of directors- we also wish that this journal will be the communication vehicle of our working group, meeting point, communications body, and expression of opinion for our members. In these changing times when we are seeing that the model is changing in many of our activities with frequent debates and conflicts, this journal raises as the go-to tool. Time has come for interventional cardiologists to show what we are really made out of. And although others may be hesitant about what we do, we believe we can provide excellent healthcare and state-of-the-art science.

We have probably left out many names and organizations that have played and will play a key role in the birth and growth of REC: Interventional Cardiology. To all of you who believed in this project from day one, thank you and congratulations.