There’s a new journal out with free full text on the web. It is Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine and is published by Oxford Journals online. I find that CAM makes for interesting teaching examples because students are willing to be extra skeptical for these studies and don’t passively and uncritically accept the findings on CAM research.
I had previously raised the issue of randomized controlled trials (RCT) and CAM. Some of the criticisms of RCTs by CAM proponents are on the mark and these same weaknesses make RCTs a poor method for evaluating complex interventions. Some of the criticisms, however, are unwarranted, and the RCT can often provide solid evidence of the lack of efficacy in certain CAM approaches in spite of its weaknesses.
This journal looks like it has a lot of promise and may provide me with lots of new teaching examples for the future.
Disclaimer. I am working with Oxford University Press on a book, so I am predisposed to say nice things about them.
You can find an earlier version of this page on my original website.