Papers in this field are read by reviewers who will examine the design closely. Anticipating that, and reporting to a standard that leaves nothing to be inferred, is what separates work that is engaged with from work that is dismissed.
Report to trial standards
Where the study is a clinical trial:
- Register prospectively with CTRI or an equivalent registry, before the first participant is enrolled.
- Follow CONSORT, including the extension for non-pharmacological or individualised treatments where relevant.
- Describe the prescribing method fully. Individualised or specific remedy, potency, dilution scale, dosing schedule, repetition rule, and who made the prescription.
- Blinding. Who was blinded, how, and whether blinding was tested at the end.
- Outcome measures. Validated instruments wherever they exist, with the primary outcome named in advance.
Observational and case work
Case reports remain valuable here, particularly for unusual presentations. Report them to CARE: a timeline, diagnostic reasoning, the intervention in full detail, follow-up, and patient consent for publication.
For case series and cohort work, STROBE applies, with the same emphasis on how participants were selected and how confounding was addressed.
Systematic reviews in this field
Reviews are scrutinised particularly closely. Register the protocol with PROSPERO, search comprehensively, appraise risk of bias with an established tool, and assess certainty with GRADE. See how to write a systematic review and the PRISMA 2020 checklist.
Where heterogeneity prevents pooling, say so. A narrative synthesis is a legitimate outcome and is far stronger than a pooled estimate the studies cannot support.
Open access options
Cloud Publications publishes the International Journal of Advanced Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (IJAAYUSH, ISSN 2320-0251), which covers homoeopathy alongside the other AYUSH systems. It is peer-reviewed, open access and free to read worldwide, publishing clinical studies, case reports, pharmacological work and integrative research.
For clinical and public health work extending beyond a single system, the International Journal of Advanced Nutritional and Health Science (IJANHS, ISSN 2348-5140) may be the better fit.
Before submitting
Verify indexing at source, check the scope against recent issues, and state limitations plainly. In a contested field, an author who names the weaknesses of their own study is considerably more persuasive than one who does not.
See also how to choose the right journal and why papers are rejected.