Emphasis on ‘whole-person medicine’ has always been intrinsic to the clinical practice of homeopathy. Reflecting this holistic approach to an individual patient's treatment, with its inter-professional ethic of health care, many practitioners and institutions of homeopathy are now seeing themselves within the overarching category of “integrative medicine”. It is a topic that is developed articulately in an article in the current issue of the journal.[1] In a mirror to this maturing position, Homeopathy is now witnessing submissions of manuscripts in that explicit context. The journal now, therefore, welcomes articles on integrative medical care in which homeopathy is a substantial component. We are extending peer review also to manuscripts in which homeopathy is evaluated prominently beside other whole-person therapies such as acupuncture and herbal medicine or within the perspective of AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha, homeopathy).

The current issue of the journal contains a further two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from Dr Subhranil Saha's prolific research group in West Bengal. The first of these articles reports a study of individualised homeopathic medicines for lower back pain in lumbar spondylosis: the trial did not detect a significant effect for the primary outcome, due perhaps to its premature stop date.[2] In the second RCT, homeopathic medicines performed significantly better than placebos in reducing the severity of atopic dermatitis in adults.[3] Two review articles also feature in the list of contents: the first of those emphasizes the important contribution that well-informed homeopathy can make in the management of menopausal symptoms in an integrative health care setting[4]; the second review presents a set of recommendations for designing, conducting and reporting clinical observational studies in homeopathic veterinary medicine.[5] This noteworthy issue of the journal continues with a comprehensive evaluation of selected plant-derived homeopathic medicines for their action against cervical cancer in a study that used both in-vitro and impressive in-silico (computer modelling) methods[6] and with an elegant veterinary case report article on the use of homeopathy to promote ovarian follicular development in two pythons.[7]

Article published online:
19 October 2023

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