Publishing

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the growth of interest, if any, in complementary or alternative medicine by the professional scientific community from the number of MEDLINE-listed and clinical trial-type articles for January 1, 1966, through December 31, 1996. METHODS: Systematic literature searches of the MEDLINE database, using the expanded terms "alternative medicine," "traditional medicine," "acupuncture," "homeopathy," and "chiropractic," were conducted in January 1998 to evaluate the number of all articles.

OBJECTIVE: To establish whether there is evidence of the efficacy of homoeopathy from controlled trials in humans. DESIGN: Criteria based meta-analysis. Assessment of the methodological quality of 107 controlled trials in 96 published reports found after an extensive search. Trials were scored using a list of predefined criteria of good methodology, and the outcome of the trials was interpreted in relation to their quality. SETTING: Controlled trials published world wide. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Results of the trials with the best methodological quality.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the growth of interest, if any, in complementary or alternative medicine by the professional scientific community from the number of MEDLINE-listed and clinical trial-type articles for January 1, 1966, through December 31, 1996. METHODS: Systematic literature searches of the MEDLINE database, using the expanded terms "alternative medicine," "traditional medicine," "acupuncture," "homeopathy," and "chiropractic," were conducted in January 1998 to evaluate the number of all articles.

Acupuncture treatment and control group interventions in parallel-group randomized trials of acupuncture are not always precisely reported. In an attempt to improve standards, an international group of experienced acupuncturists and researchers devised a set of recommendations, designating them STRICTA: STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture. In a further consensus-building round, the editors of several journals helped redraft the recommendations.

Acupuncture treatment and control group interventions in parallel-group randomised trials of acupuncture are not always precisely reported. In an attempt to improve standards, an international group of experienced acupuncturists and researchers devised a set of recommendations, designating them STRICTA: STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture. In a further consensus-building round, the editors of several journals helped redraft the recommendations.

Acupuncture treatment and control group interventions in parallel-group randomised trials of acupuncture are not always precisely reported. In an attempt to improve standards, an international group of experienced acupuncturists and researchers devised a set of recommendations, designating them STRICTA: STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture. In a further consensus-building round, the editors of several journals helped redraft the recommendations.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of methodology and reporting of randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for obesity worldwide. METHODS: Collecting all the randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for obesity worldwide by systematically searching without language limitation. The quality of methodology and reporting was evaluated by the quality criteria recommended by Cochrane handbook and CONSORT (consolidate standards of reporting trial) and STRICTA (standard for reporting interventions in controlled trials of acupuncture) checklists.

OBJECTIVE: To inform the potential revision of Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA), we sought the opinion of acupuncture trial authors and systematic reviewers to rank the utility of the guidelines and asked trial authors about their experiences using them. DESIGN: Questionnaires ranking STRICTA items and qualitative responses about experience using the guidelines.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the growth of interest, if any, in complementary or alternative medicine by the professional scientific community from the number of MEDLINE-listed and clinical trial-type articles for January 1, 1966, through December 31, 1996. METHODS: Systematic literature searches of the MEDLINE database, using the expanded terms "alternative medicine," "traditional medicine," "acupuncture," "homeopathy," and "chiropractic," were conducted in January 1998 to evaluate the number of all articles.

Acupuncture treatment and control group interventions in parallel-group randomised trials of acupuncture are not always precisely reported. In an attempt to improve standards, an international group of experienced acupuncturists and researchers devised a set of recommendations, designating them STRICTA: STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture. In a further consensus-building round, the editors of several journals helped redraft the recommendations.