Aims and scope
Aims and scope
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of complementary therapies, including basic, translational and clinical research.
The journal welcomes submissions across a diverse range of topics including pre-clinical investigations into biological mechanisms, herbal pharmacology and toxicology, as well as clinical trials and safety evaluations of therapies. It will consider research on the integration of complementary medicine into healthcare systems, including topics such as professional attitudes, regulation, and economic evaluation, studies on usage patterns and attitudes toward complementary therapies, as well as innovations in research methodology.
Topics covered in the journal include:
- Herbal and natural products
- Clinical research
- Traditional medicine systems
- Manual therapies
- Mind-body interventions
- Integration into healthcare
- Nutrition-based therapies
- Knowledge and attitudes towards complementary medicine
- Research methodology in complementary medicine
Our research standards
We are committed to providing objective evidence for the efficacy or utilisation of complementary medicine and therapies.
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies is committed to evidence-based research. We believe that Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) research should be held to the same standards and evidence threshold as those of medicine research.
We welcome manuscripts for submission which meet the following research standards:
- Clinical and Basic research manuscripts that comply with international and national standards for such work (such as the Declaration of Helsinki or relevant Governmental regulation e.g. the UK’s Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations).
- Studies which are adequately controlled (be that compared to a placebo or conventional medicine), anonymized (where appropriate), randomized and of sufficient statistical power to confidently and accurately interpret the effect reported. Studies reporting a CAM treatment/technique compared only to another CAM treatment/technique are not sufficient to test the efficacy of the CAM treatment in question. Studies in which a conventional treatment is supplemented with a CAM technique are only valid if compared to the same conventional treatment supplemented with a placebo.
- CAM treatments/techniques tested on animal models and/or human patients: It is unethical for such work, on humans or animals, to have taken place without adequate prior evidence that the treatment/technique shows some potential of being therapeutic. Manuscripts must include evidence that takes the form of objective, measurable data from previously published peer reviewed literature which adheres to scientific principles (for instance in vitro or cellular work). Other forms of evidence are not valid. Manuscripts describing work lacking this evidence will not be considered on ethical grounds.
- Manuscripts reporting the public’s view on CAM treatment and the uses of CAM by the general public: we are unable to consider manuscripts which use these views to promote the inclusion of a CAM treatment/technique into conventional healthcare if the evidence base for its efficacy is insufficient. The journal is for evidence-based inquiry and is not for the advocacy of any particular treatment/technique.
As a BMC Series journal, BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies does not make editorial decisions based on the perceived interest or potential impact of a study. Manuscripts are considered for publication if they are scientifically valid. For research articles, this includes having a clearly defined and sound research question, appropriate methodology and analysis, and adherence to community-agreed standards relevant to the field.
