Aim and Scope

Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (ATHM) focuses primarily on publishing manuscripts involving complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or “complementary health approaches” for treating a variety of common diseases and health conditions. These include a group of diverse medical and health care practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.

CAM therapies are termed as Alternative when used in place of conventional treatments and Complementary when used together with conventional treatments. Integrative medicine combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies in a coordinated way. ATHM focuses health approaches into the following subgroups:

1) Natural products/dietary practices: This segment includes herbs, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics, primarily offered as dietary supplements; food; and diet programs.
2) Mind and body practices: This segment includes a diverse group of procedures or techniques administered or taught by a trained practitioner or instructors. These include but are not limited to yoga, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation, meditation, massage therapy, acupuncture, relaxation techniques, tai chi, qi gong, healing touch, hypnotherapy and movement therapies.
3) Other complementary health approaches: In addition to treatments offered by traditional healthcare practitioners, these include Ayurvedic medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM, Homeopathy, Unani Medicine and Naturopathy.
4) Off label/support treatments: This segment is an emerging area of interest and focuses on using existing traditional treatments for alternative health issues and also using CAM practices to support conventional treatment procedures.

ATHM covers the entire spectrum of original research, clinical trials, views, conceptual papers, and reviews on complementary practice and methods, as well as clinical case studies of high quality and relevance. ATHM also invites guest editorial commentary on trending or relevant topics. ATHM has a goal to provide evidence-based solutions regarding the latest practices of integrative medicine and health.