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Academic journal
The
Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies
is a bimonthly
medical journal
covering research related to
acupuncture
, the
meridian system
(a concept in
traditional Chinese medicine
for which no evidence exists that supports its existence),
[1]
[2]
and related treatments. It was established in 2008 and is published by
Elsevier
on behalf of the Medical Association of Pharmacopuncture Institute. The
editors-in-chief
are Pan Dong Ryu and Kwang-Sup Soh (
Seoul National University
). In an opinion piece for
Forbes
on journals about
pseudoscience
published by reputable publishers,
Steven Salzberg
listed this journal as one of the examples of a "fake medical journal",
[2]
and his critique was repeated in an article written for
Monthly Index of Medical Specialities
exploring whether acupuncture was a medical sham or genuine treatment.
[3]
Research published by the journal was used as an object lesson by New Zealand consumer advocate Mark Hanna illustrating the problems with the lack of scientific veracity in studies of acupuncture:
The existence of
qi
and
meridians
is not supported by any evidence, and when this practice was developed it was based more on philosophy than evidence. In that way, it's similar to extinct medical philosophies such as the "Western" medical philosophy of
humorism
.
One aspect of acupuncture that I find illustrates quite well the fact that its development was not supported by evidence is that
horses
are said to have a
gall bladder
meridian. This gall bladder meridian has even been the subject of published papers in journals such as the "Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies". What's so odd about that, though? Horses don't have a gall bladder.
[4]
Abstracting and indexing
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The journal is abstracted and indexed in:
References
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External links
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