CONDITIONS FOR PUBLICATION FORM

THE ANNALS OF THORACIC SURGERYEmail: theannals@sts.org; FAX: (312) 268-5263Online manuscript submission: www.editorialmanager.com/annals

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This form MUST be completed, signed by ALL authors, and returned to The Annals of Thoracic Surgery before yourmanuscript can be accepted for publication. This form with signatures may be returned by email or fax as noted above.Individual Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Each author must indicate below that for the past 12 months either (a) no financial conflictof interest exists with any commercial entity or competitor whose products are featured, described, reviewed, evaluated or compared in themanuscript, except for funding supporting the study as disclosed under “Acknowledgments” (see below) or (b) a potential conflict of interestexists with one or more commercial entities or a competitor whose products are featured, described, reviewed, evaluated or compared in themanuscript through the existence of one or more of the following relationships: (1) the author is a full- or part-time employee of a company; (2)the author and/or immediate familymembers (siblings, parents, children) has an existing or optional equity interest in a company and/or owns orpartly owns patents licensed to a company; (3) the author has an ongoing retainer relationship (consultant, speaker, etc) with a company forwhich he/she receives financial remuneration; or (4) the author has received financial compensation for this publication. Financial compensationincludes any amount of cash, securities, gifts, services, or items of value. If “Yes” is checked, a box on the title page of the published article willread: “Dr X discloses a financial relationship with company Y.”Acknowledgment of Sources of Funding for This Study: All original scientific articles, editorials, reviews, and new technology articlesmust state sources of funding for the work described in the article in “Acknowledgments.” Grants, financial support and technical or otherassistance are acknowledged at the end of the text before references.Scientific Responsibility: Each author is required to complete this form to certify that he or she has participated sufficiently in the work totake responsibility for a meaningful share of the content of the manuscript, as described by the International Committee of Medical JournalEditors (ICMJE). Each author must meet all 4 ICMJE authorship criteria. All other individuals should be acknowledged. The corresponding orsubmitting author will indicate during the submission process that he/she vouches for the accuracy and completeness of all of the data reported inthe manuscript. Except for new technology articles, statements regarding scientific responsibility do not appear in the published manuscript.Freedom of Investigation: “Freedom of investigation” is defined as freedom from outside interests in controlling the design of thestudy, acquisition of data, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and having freedom to fully disclose all results. This statement isattested to by the corresponding author during the submission process. Except for new technology articles, this statement does not appear inthe published manuscript.Exclusive Publication: Each author must sign this form to certify that none of the material in this manuscript has been publishedpreviously in either print or electronic form, and that none of this material is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Thisincludes symposia, transactions, books, articles published by invitation, posting in electronic format, and preliminary publications of anykind except an abstract of 400 words or fewer. The Annals follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines for issues offraud, image manipulation, and duplicate publication. More information on the COPE Retraction Guidelines can be found at https://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines.pdf.Copyright Transfer: Each author must sign this form to certify that, if the manuscript is accepted for publication in The Annals,copyright (including the right to obtain copyright registration, whether separately or as part of a journal issue or otherwise) in and to theabove article, including original artwork, transfers throughout the world and for the full term and all extensions and renewals thereof to:

THE SOCIETY OF THORACIC SURGEONS (STS)This transfer includes the right to adapt the article for use in conjunction with computer systems and programs, including reproductions orpublication in machine-readable form and incorporation in retrieval systems.

Rights of authors: The STS hereby licenses the following rights back to the author(s):(a) Patent and trademark rights to any process or procedure described in the article.(b) The right to photocopy or make single electronic copies of the article for their own personal use, including for their own

classroom use, or for the personal use of colleagues, provided the copies are not offered for sale and are not distributed in asystematic way outside of their employing institution (e.g., via an email list or public file server). Posting of the article on asecure network (not accessible to the public) within the author’s institution is permitted.

(c) The right, subsequent to publication, to use the article or any part thereof free of charge in a printed compilation of worksof their own, such as collected writings or lecture notes.

Note: All copies, paper or electronic, or other use of the informationmust include an indication of the STS copyright and a full citation of thejournal source. Please refer requests for all uses above, including the authorization of third parties to reproduce or otherwise use all or part ofthe article (including figures and tables), to Elsevier’s Global Rights Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, United Kingdom; Tel: (+44)1865 843830 (UK) or (+1) 215 239 3804 (US); Fax: (+44) 1865 853333; Email: healthpermissions@elsevier.com. Or submit request online athttp://www.elsevier.com/permissions.Authorship: If copyright is held by the employer, the employer or an authorized representative of the employer must sign inaddition to the author(s).

If the author is a U.S. Government employee and this work was done in that capacity, the copyright transfer applies only to the extentallowed by U.S. law and the author should sign this form. Please confirm by checking the appropriate space in the signature area at the end of thisform. Any other author who is not a U.S. Government employee should also sign the Conditions for Publication Form.Warranties: The author(s) warrant that the article is the author’s original work and has not been published before. The author(s) warrant that thearticle contains no libelous or other unlawful statements, and does not infringe on the rights of others. If excerpts from copyrightedworks are included,the author(s) has (have) obtained written permission from the copyright owners and will credit the sources in the article.Preprints: The author(s) warrant(s) that if a prior version of this work (normally a preprint) has been posted to an electronic server,such version was accessible to only a small group of individuals and the author(s) will cause its prompt removal from such server.

CONDITIONS FOR PUBLICATION FORM

I agree with the preceding conditions and provide the appropriate signatures and information below accordingly:

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR SECTION (If corresponding author and senior author are the same person, that author should fill out this section only):Corresponding Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

SENIOR AUTHOR SECTION (If different person from corresponding author):Senior Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.I vouch for the accuracy and completeness of all of the data reported in the manuscript: Yes No

OTHER AUTHORS:Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Author’s Name: Signature: Date:Author’s employer’s signature, if appropriate:U.S. Government employee: Yes NoConflict of interest: Yes No If yes, with which entity:By checking all 4 items below, I attest that I am an author of this manuscript: (1) substantial contributions to the conception or design of thework; or theacquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND(3) final approval of the version to be published;AND (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions relatedto the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

ALL 4 items must be checked by each author. Individuals who do not meet all 4 criteria should be acknowledged.If there are additional authors on the article, please attach additional sheets of this form as needed with appropriate information and signatures.