Bigger and Better

In a year that, to quote New Zealand's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, ‘has frankly been terrible’ for the world,[1] it is a pleasant editorial task to report a significantly increased rate of manuscript submissions to Homeopathy. The journal received as many articles in the first 8 months of 2020 as it typically does in a full year. A happy consequence is that the current issue has more pagination than its immediate predecessors. Another piece of cheerful news is that the journal's Impact Factor has reached 1.704, an increase of 16% from its previous year's value. Homeopathy research and its key journal are evidently in fine health. It is also good to announce that the journal's home-page of online articles includes a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) that pools together all our published papers on the topic of COVID-19; further content will be added to the VSI as new coronavirus-related papers attain publication.

For clinical case reporting, Homeopathy has been asking authors to use the Modified Naranjo Criteria for Homeopathy to assess the likelihood of a causal relationship between a homeopathic intervention and the patient's outcome. Dr. Chetna Lamba and co-authors have undertaken research of published case reports in homeopathy and have proposed improved wording for several criteria in the assessment tool, under the new acronym MONARCH.[2] A clinical case series and a case report, on urinary stones[3] and pituitary microadenoma[4] respectively, reflect the recent trend for increased numbers of submitted manuscripts in this category. Additional original research articles in the current issue come from the fields of in-vitro investigation,[5] isopathic preparation and standardisation,[6] tropical disease,[7] and veterinary homeopathy.[8] With the homeopathy profession's reliance on high-quality provings of its medicines, the journal also welcomes the article by Dr. Todd Hoover on updated guidelines for drug provings in the Homœopathic Pharmacopœia of the United States.[9]

Debate or Commentary articles have been given enhanced prominence in the journal in the past 2 to 3 years. Their contemporary appeal is provided in this issue by contributions about the human microbiome,[10] nanoparticle research,[11] and journal club presentations.[12] A Commentary by Dr. Emma Macías-Cortés and her colleagues[13] outlines the process that—despite their rightful efforts to avert it—led to the retraction of the published paper in PloS ONE that reported their clinical trial on individualised homeopathy for depression in menopausal women[14]; two of the authors' connected papers, which are published in Homeopathy,[15] [16] remain untarnished by retraction of the parent article.

Publication History

Article published online:
02 November 2020

• References

• 1 One News TVNZ. Jacinda Ardern praises NZ's efforts against Covid-19 resurgence despite 'frankly terrible' year. . Available at: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jacinda-ardern-praises-nzs-efforts-against-covid-19-resurgence-despite-frankly-terrible-year. Accessed August 24, 2020
• 2 Lamba CD, Gupta VK, van Haselen R. et al. Evaluation of the Modified Naranjo Criteria for assessing causal attribution of clinical outcome to homeopathic intervention as presented in case reports. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 191-197
• 3 Nayak C, Sahoo AR, Nayak C. Thlaspi bursa pastoris in treatment of urinary stones: a case series. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 238-242
• 4 Mathur M. Pituitary microadenoma treated with individualized homeopathic medicine—a case report. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 243-247
• 5 Khan S, Nayak D, Khurana A, Manchanda RK, Tandon C, Tandon S. In-vitro assessment of homeopathic potencies of Hydrastis canadensis on hormone-dependent and -independent breast cancer. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 198-206
• 6 Munshi R, Talele G, Shah R. Preparation and standardization of Escherichia coli nosodes sourced from selected Escherichia coli strains. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 207-212
• 7 Joshi J, Bandral C, Manchanda RK, Khurana A, Nayak D, Kaur S. The effect of Iodium 30c on experimental visceral leishmaniasis. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 213-223
• 8 Balbueno MCS, Peixoto KDC, Coelho CP. Evaluation of the efficacy of Crataegus oxyacantha in dogs with early-stage heart failure. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 224-229
• 9 Hoover TA. Five years of practical experience using the revised proving guidelines of the Homœopathic Pharmacopœia convention of the United States. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 230-237
• 10 Whitmont RD. The human microbiome, conventional medicine, and homeopathy. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 248-255
• 11 Dei A. Experimental evidence supports new perspectives in homeopathy. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 256-260
• 12 Dutta A, Ghosh S. Preparing and presenting journal club content: An essential component of homeopathic learning. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 261-266
• 13 Macías-Cortés EC, Llanes-González L, Aguilar-Faisal L, Asbun-Bojalil J. Individualized homeopathy for depression in climacteric women: comments on the retraction by PLoS ONE. Homeopathy 2020; 109: 267-270
• 14 Macías-Cortés EC, Llanes-González L, Aguilar-Faisal L, Asbun-Bojalil J. Individualized homeopathic treatment and fluoxetine for moderate to severe depression in peri- and postmenopausal women (HOMDEP-MENOP study): a randomized, double-dummy, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. PLoS One 2015; 10: e0118440 (retracted)
• 15 Macías-Cortés EC, Llanes-González L, Aguilar-Faisal L, Asbun-Bojalil J. Is metabolic dysregulation associated with antidepressant response in depressed women in climacteric treated with individualized homeopathic medicines or fluoxetine? The HOMDEP-MENOP study. Homeopathy 2017; 106: 3-10
• 16 Macías-Cortés EC, Llanes-González L, Aguilar-Faisal L, Asbun-Bojalil J. Response to individualized homeopathic treatment for depression in climacteric women with history of domestic violence, marital dissatisfaction or sexual abuse: results from the HOMDEP-MENOP study. Homeopathy 2018; 107: 202-208