Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by widespread fibrosis affecting the skin, internal organs, and vasculature. Vascular disease with intimal proliferation and obliterative vasculopathy is extremely prevalent in SSc, most commonly manifesting as Raynaud's phenomenon and digital ulcerations. Other manifestations of vascular disease occur less frequently in patients with SSc, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), ischemic digital loss, peripheral vascular disease, and renal crisis. The prevalence of macrovascular involvement, including coronary artery disease (CAD), carotid atherosclerosis and cerebral vascular ischemia, has not been thoroughly evaluated.

We invite authors to present original research articles or review articles that evaluate the epidemiology, natural history, complications, and/or treatment of vascular disease in patients with SSc. We are particularly interested in manuscripts exploring novel therapeutic options and potential biomarkers for PAH, digital ischemia, and renal crisis, as well as epidemiologic studies on CAD and atherosclerosis.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Clinical efficacy and toxicity studies of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of PAH, digital ischemia, or renal crisis
• Evaluation of potential biomarkers or devices for diagnosis and prognosis of vascular disease in SSc
• Epidemiologic and natural history studies of less common macrovascular manifestations of SSc

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijr/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: