Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine

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Founding and content

When it launched, it was one of several journals about alternative medicine that were aimed primarily at doctors; it and similar journals carried advertisements for "unproven homeopathic products, shark cartilage, naturopathic remedies and other health food store items oriented toward cancer." [2] David Gorski on the website Science-Based Medicine observed that United States Senator Tom Harkin (who was instrumental in drafting the legislation that funded the Office of Alternative Medicine but later criticized the self-same office's reliance on evidence-based testing) wrote two different commentaries in the journal's inaugural issue. He wrote:

In these two articles, Harkin basically introduced the new journal as a "journey—an exploration into what has been called 'left-out medicine,' therapies that show promise but that have not yet been accepted into the mainstream of modern medicine." and explicitly stated that "mainstreaming alternative practices that work is our next step." Unfortunately, he had a bit of a problem with the way medical science goes about determining whether a health practice—any health practice—works and railed against what he characterized as the "unbendable rules of randomized clinical trials." Citing his use of bee pollen to treat his allergies, went on to assert, "It is not necessary for the scientific community to understand the process before the American public can benefit from these therapies...."

... Truly, this was a profound misunderstanding of how science works. [3]

Elsewhere on the website, Jann Bellamy, Florida attorney and founding member of the Institute for Science in Medicine, [4] described the journal as being "of dubious scientific rigor". [5]

Staff

The journal's founding editor-in-chief was Larry Dossey. [1] In 2004, Mark Hyman was appointed as chief editor. In November 2008 David Riley, the journal's former medical editor, was appointed to the role. [6] [7] The editorial staff changed in 2010, leading the editorial board to resign; their names remained on the masthead as of 2013. [8] As of 2013, the editor-in-chief was Andrew W. Campbell, and the journal's website listed him as practicing medicine in Texas; in 2011, he was barred from practicing medicine in Texas and was apparently practicing in Florida. [8] The Texas Medical Board had taken repeated action against Campbell because he "relied on junk science, ordered inappropriate tests, and improperly diagnosed 'toxigenic mold exposure.'" [9]

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, [10] Index Medicus/MEDLINE/PubMed, [11] Science Citation Index Expanded, [10] and Scopus. [12] According to the Journal Citation Reports , the journal has a 2015 impact factor of 1.329. [13]

Related Research Articles

Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of mainstream medicine and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeopathy</span> Pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine

Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a disease in healthy people can cure similar symptoms in sick people; this doctrine is called similia similibus curentur, or "like cures like". Homeopathic preparations are termed remedies and are made using homeopathic dilution. In this process, the selected substance is repeatedly diluted until the final product is chemically indistinguishable from the diluent. Often not even a single molecule of the original substance can be expected to remain in the product. Between each dilution homeopaths may hit and/or shake the product, claiming this makes the diluent "remember" the original substance after its removal. Practitioners claim that such preparations, upon oral intake, can treat or cure disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naturopathy</span> Form of alternative medicine

Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult to generalize, these treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, like homeopathy, to the widely accepted, like certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence. The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reiki</span> Pseudoscientific healing technique

Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called palm healing or hands-on healing through which, according to practitioners, a "universal energy" is transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient, to encourage emotional or physical healing.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is a United States government agency which explores complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It was initially created in 1991 as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), and renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before receiving its current name in 2014. NCCIH is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

<i>JAMA</i> Peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association

JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of biomedicine. The journal was established in 1883 with Nathan Smith Davis as the founding editor. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California San Francisco became the journal editor-in-chief on July 1, 2022, succeeding Howard Bauchner of Boston University.

The Ministry of Ayush, a ministry of the Government of India, is responsible for developing education, research and propagation of traditional medicine and alternative medicine systems in India. Ayush is a name devised from the names of the alternative healthcare systems covered by the ministry: ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa, and homeopathy.

<i>Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine</i> Academic journal

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering alternative medicine published by Mary Ann Liebert. It was established in 1995 and is the official journal of the Society for Acupuncture Research. The editor-in-chief is John Weeks, who succeeded the founding editor, Kim A. Jobst.

Functional medicine (FM) is a form of alternative medicine that encompasses a number of unproven and disproven methods and treatments. It has been described as pseudoscience, quackery, and at its essence a rebranding of complementary and alternative medicine. In the United States, FM practices have been ruled ineligible for course credits by the American Academy of Family Physicians because of concerns they may be harmful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gorski</span> Science-based medicine advocate

David Henry Gorski is an American surgical oncologist and professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He specializes in breast cancer surgery at the Karmanos Cancer Institute. Gorski is an outspoken skeptic and critic of alternative medicine and the anti-vaccination movement. A prolific blogger, he writes as Orac at Respectful Insolence, and as himself at Science-Based Medicine where he is the managing editor.

<i>Science-Based Medicine</i> Website covering issues in science and medicine, focusing on quackery

Science-Based Medicine is a website and blog with articles covering issues in science and medicine, especially medical scams and practices. Founded in 2008, it is owned and operated by the New England Skeptical Society, and run by Steven Novella and David Gorski.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimball Atwood</span> American medical doctor, researcher and alternative medicine critic

Kimball C. Atwood IV is an American medical doctor and researcher from Newton, Massachusetts. He is retired as an assistant clinical professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and anesthesiologist at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Crislip</span> American infectious disease doctor and skeptic (born 1957)

Mark Alden Crislip is an infectious disease doctor in Portland, Oregon and former chief of infectious diseases at Legacy Health hospital system. Crislip has generated three podcasts, QuackCast, PusCast, and Gobbet o' Pus. A writer for medicine-related blogs, he has compiled his blog posts into several books. He co-founded the Society for Science-Based Medicine and served as president from 2013 to 2019.

Homeopathy is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research, reviews, and debates on all aspects of homeopathy, a pseudoscientific form of alternative medicine. It is the official journal of the London-based Faculty of Homeopathy. The journal was established in 1911 as the British Homoeopathic Journal, resulting from a merger between the British Homoeopathic Review and the Journal of the British Homoeopathic Society. It uses its current name since 2001 and the editor-in-chief is Robert Mathie.

The Journal of Integrative Medicine is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of complementary and alternative and integrative medicine. It was established in 2003 as the Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine and obtained its current title in 2013. It is published by Science Press and is distributed by Elsevier.

Larry Dossey is a physician and author who propounds the importance for healing of prayer, spirituality, and other non-physical factors.

<i>Explore: The Journal of Science & Healing</i> Academic journal

Explore: The Journal of Science & Healing is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes papers on alternative medicine six times per year. It was established in 2005 and is published by Elsevier. The executive editor is faith healing advocate Larry Dossey, and the co-editors-in-chief are hypnotherapist, acupuncturist, and herbalist Benjamin Kligler, an associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and parapsychologist Dean Radin. The journal has been described as a "sham masquerading as a real scientific journal" which publishes "truly ridiculous studies", such as Masaru Emoto's claimed demonstration of the effect of "distant intention" on water crystal formation.

Vinayak K. Prasad is an American hematologist-oncologist and health researcher. He is a professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is the author of the books Ending Medical Reversal (2015) and Malignant (2020).

Alternative medicine describes any practice which aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but which lacks biological plausibility and is untested or untestable. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon.

<i>Western Journal of Emergency Medicine</i> Academic journal

The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health, (WestJEM) is a bimonthly peer-reviewed, fully open access medical journal.

References

  1. 1 2 Simpson, Richard K. Jr.; Bick, Dawn (1996). "Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine". JAMA . 275 (13): 1034. doi:10.1001/jama.1996.03530370072040.
  2. ↑ Cassileth, Barrie R. (June 1, 1996). "Alternative and Complementary Cancer Treatments". The Oncologist. 1 (3): 173–179. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.1-3-173 . PMID   10387984.
  3. ↑ Gorski, David (June 29, 2015). "NCCIH and the true evolution of integrative medicine". Science Based Medicine.
  4. ↑ "ISM - Our Fellows". www.scienceinmedicine.org. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  5. ↑ Bellamy, Jann (December 24, 2015). "Guess who pioneered chemoprevention through diet?". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Homeopathy". NPR. January 12, 1998. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Press release: Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine Names New Editor in Chief". Integrative Medicine - A Clinician's. November 11, 2008. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009.
  8. 1 2 Beall, Jeffrey (December 26, 2013). "A Medical Publisher with Some Problems". Scholarly Open Access . Archived from the original on January 9, 2015.
  9. ↑ Barrett, Stephen (January 24, 2012). ""Toxic Mold" Guru (Andrew Campbell. M.D.) Surrenders Medical License". CaseWatch.
  10. 1 2 "Master Journal List". Intellectual Property & Science. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Alternative therapies in health and medicine". NLM Catalog. National Center for Biotechnology Information . Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Content overview". Scopus. Elsevier . Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine". 2015 Journal Citation Reports. Web of Science (Science ed.). Thomson Reuters. 2016.
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