What is the Affiliation Programme ?
What can the ESC offer your organisation?
The status of Affiliated Cardiac Society comes from the wish of the ESC Board to create a platform for Cardiac Societies and other professional bodies interested in cardiovascular medicine, based outside Europe and the Mediterranean basin, to enable their closer collaboration with the ESC.
Do you want your organisation to become an Affiliated Cardiac Society member?
Affiliate status allows Cardiac Societies that cannot become members of the European Society of Cardiology for geographic reasons, to collaborate closely with the Society and its constituent bodies. Any Cardiac Society or other professional body with an interest in cardiovascular medicine may apply to the ESC for Affiliated Membership.
Find information about the Affiliated Cardiac Societies of the ESC
Access details of each of the Affiliated Cardiac Societies (board members, contact information, activities, publications) and start networking with your colleagues worldwide - overview of all ESC Affiliated Cardiac Societies.
Apply for Affiliation
Detailed procedure of application for affiliation and requirements.
Who can apply?
Any Affiliated Cardiac Society or other professional body with an interest in cardiovascular medicine may apply to the ESC for the affiliated programme. Any request for affiliation must be institutional, as opposed to individual.
The professional body needs to be an established and well recognised cardiology organisation, with democratic rules, Board, committee, and be considered as the main organisation of its kind in the country.
How to apply for affiliation?
An official request can be sent by email to the ESC Global Affairs Department at the European Heart House.
An official letter of request (preferably on official letterhead) from the President or Secretary of the organisation must be addressed to the ESC Head of Global Affairs Department at the European Heart House, or to the President of the ESC, confirming the consensus and motivation for affiliation from the board on behalf of the members.
This letter must be accompanied by the following documentation in English about the organisation:
- Official statutes / by-laws (a summary in English is accepted, if the statutes are available in national language only)
- Names and roles of current board members
- Contact information for the office and board members
- Board and membership structure
- Brief history of the organisation
- Resources, such as web site, journals published (web addresses, no of issues, English version available, etc..)
- Details of main activities: congresses, working groups, regional entities
Approval process
Each application is reviewed and a decision to accept or reject it is made by the ESC Board, and then announced during the ESC General Assembly each year. The affiliation is official only counting from this meeting, which takes place during the ESC Congress (late August – early September every year).
A Memorandum of Understanding document, stating the rights and duties involved, will be signed between each new Affiliated Cardiac Society and the ESC.
Throughout the process you will be kept informed by the ESC Global Affairs Department and you can send any questions you may have to our central email address: internationalaffairs@escardio.org
Benefits for Members
- The online ESC member directory
- The latest ESC Pocket Guidelines
- The ESC 365 online platform, providing year round access to ESC Congress resources
- Online journals and publications: ESC CardioMed, the European Heart Journal (EHJ), Cardiovascular Research (CVR), and the EHJ - Quality of Care & Clinical Outcomes (EHJ-QCCO)
- Savings on the submission fee for EHJ – Case Reports
- Savings on manuscript editing and publication support services
- CME accreditation for webinars and ESC General Cardiology Continuing Professional Development Programme via the ESC eLearning platform
- Savings on ESC Congress registration fee and special benefits during ESC Congress.
Programme and Objectives
Details of the Affiliated Programme
Any Cardiac Society or main professional body within cardiovascular medicine may apply to the ESC for the Affiliated programme: see details about the application process above.
Principles and areas of collaboration
Affiliated Cardiac Societies will be offered the possibility to participate in several ESC activities. Different activities may be jointly organised by the ESC and the Affiliated Cardiac Society, according to needs and resources. The collaboration related to specific activities will be regulated by the following rules:
Congresses
Affiliated Cardiac Societies undertake to support the promotion of the ESC Congress and the related opportunities for contribution (Call for Science) as well as the Congress resources available to them (ESC 365 free of charge for 4 months/ESC TV).
Affiliated Cardiac Societies are invited to take part in ESC Congress Session Proposal Submission process, by submitting online. An email notification will be sent to the Presidents of the ACS.
This call for sessions is meant to gather topic suggestions, faculty experts in specific areas expanding from their region. All sessions are reviewed by a committee and considered by the Congress Programme Committee at the time of the elaboration of the programme.
Affiliated Cardiac Societies are encouraged to promote the Call for Abstracts and Call for Clinical Cases to their members and the related benefits of presenting science at ESC Congress in terms of scientific reach and visibility of the work on the international stage. All abstracts submitted will be reviewed by the Grading Committee and selection solely based on scientific merit.
Affiliated Cardiac Societies will be asked to submit a list of experts – specifying topic expertise via track record publications – to be invited to join the Abstract Reviewing Committee.
The ESC is willing to organise joint scientific sessions at the National Congresses of the Affiliated Cardiac Societies, if there is mutual interest and sufficient available resources in this event. The Affiliated Cardiac Society is responsible for the payment of the travel, hotel accommodation and local transport of ESC Faculty and Staff.
ESC Journals
The Affiliated Cardiac Societies are encouraged to submit scientific papers to the ESC journals, as well as to the subspecialty journals published by the ESC. Their members are encouraged to subscribe to these journals.
Other forms of collaboration may be considered, such as the creation of specific language versions of the journals, if approved by the publisher and by the Editor-in-Chief.
Affiliated Cardiac Societies must be aware of the large portfolio of ESC textbooks and encouraged to contribute or purchase our works.
Educational events
Members of Affiliated Cardiac Societies will be invited to participate in educational events organised by the ESC.
The ESC brings cutting edge congresses, educational courses and best practice from its Clinical Practice Guidelines to countries across the Globe. The ESC also organise a series of tailor-made joint sessions and educational programmes with our Affiliated Cardiac Societies.
ESC scientific joint sessions can be organised during National congresses upon request from Affiliated Cardiac Societies.
This initiative aims at increasing scientific exchange between the ESC and its privileged partners, ensuring the presence of international experts in the scientific programme of Affiliated Cardiac Society congresses and enhancing implementation and dissemination of ESC Guidelines at national level.
Educational products
Affiliated Cardiac Societies may adopt the ESC Core Syllabus and Core Curriculum for the General Cardiologist, and use it for any educational purpose in their countries.
Affiliated Cardiac Societies are encouraged to promote and engage with the ESC educational products and programmes, such as textbooks, distance learning programmes, ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines, ESC e-learning platform, a web based tool which facilitates the harmonisation of cardiovascular training in cardiology.
Clinical Practice Guidelines
Affiliated Cardiac Societies are encouraged to officially endorse the ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Publication and translation of Clinical Practice Guidelines will be regulated by a separate contract.
Registries
Affiliated Cardiac Societies can contribute to the EurObservational Research Programme registries (EORP) especially on Common Diseases (assess the epidemiology and management of diseases with a major impact on public health as Heart Failure, Acute Coronary Syndrome, Valvular Heart Disease, etc…).
In such a case, an agreement detailing rights and obligations of each party will be signed. Participation depends on local possibilities and interest.
Affiliated Cardiac Societies are entitled to select representative medical centres in the country that will fulfil online the EORP Registry Web Case Report Form’s (eCRF).
In case a data quality control and/or statistical analysis are requested, this will be charged (following rates market price).
A participation fee could also be necessary depending on the complexity of the implementation and administration of the register in the country.
Grants
Each year the Affiliated Cardiac Society members can apply for grants such as research and training. These grants will be offered in open competition to young cardiologists (below 40 years old), who are ESC members to allow them to spend a period of clinical or research training in a centre within one of the ESC member countries (from 3 to 12 months).
Accreditation
The Affiliated Cardiac Societies are invited to submit their educational programmes and events to UEMS (www.uems.eu) for accreditation.
Rights and Duties
Affiliated Cardiac Societies benefit from specific rights.
Rights of the Affiliated Cardiac Societies
Affiliated Cardiac Societies will benefit from specific rights when entering the ESC:
- ESC Web Site: specific “Affiliated Cardiac Societies” pages created within the Global Affairs web page on the ESC Web Site, to promote the congresses and other activities of the Affiliated Cardiac Societies. In specific cases, selected information can also be included in the ESC Web News. Links will also be provided to the Affiliated Cardiac Societies’ websites.
- A meeting of representatives of Affiliated Cardiac Societies with representatives of the Board of the ESC can be organised every year at the ESC Congress.
- A special dinner for Affiliated Cardiac Societies Presidents and ESC leadership is organised during ESC Congress.
- Preferential communication between the ESC and the Affiliated Cardiac Societies via the current Global Affairs Committee Chairperson.
However, the following limitations apply:
- Affiliated Cardiac Societies have no voting rights at the ESC General Assembly.
- Membership in an Affiliated Cardiac Society does not make an individual eligible for election to positions on the Board of the ESC.
- Affiliated Cardiac Societies will have no formal representation on ESC Committees and Task Forces.
Duties of the Affiliated Cardiac Society
The Affiliated Cardiac Societies undertake to encourage their members to participate in ESC activities and to use ESC scientific and educational products.
The Affiliated Cardiac Societies should appoint a person responsible for communication with the ESC and communicate this contact to the ESC Global Affairs Department.
Affiliated Cardiac Societies will be requested (to the extent permitted by local law) to share the list of e-mail addresses of their members in a usable format. The ESC may then communicate directly or indirectly with these members concerning ESC programmes and products. The ESC will respect the confidentiality of this data in accordance with current legislation, and will not transmit the data to any commercial third parties.
The parties will comply with EU directives and personal data protection laws in France. EU law requires that where personal data is collected and communicated to a third party, the individual must be informed beforehand and have the right to oppose the transfer of their data to a third party.
Our mission: To reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease.