Homeopathy 2021; 110(02): 075
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1727276
Editorial

Homeopathy Meets the Challenge

Robert T. Mathie*
1   Homeopathy Research Institute, London, United Kingdom
› Author Affiliations

Compared with 2019, last year saw a remarkable 50% increase in the number of submissions to the journal. More than half of that increased volume was COVID-related. Allied to a relatively low rejection rate overall, it's fair to say that Homeopathy's small team was stretched to its limit for a few months! Inevitably, there was a brief period when accepted papers' page-proofs took a longer time than usual in the preparation, but our production team in Delhi have brought the schedule back to normal again. Thank you to them all, and to those affected authors whose kind patience during the delay helped to relieve some editorial pressure at the time.

Readers might have noted that the journal has reached its 110th volume this year. As Dr Gary Smyth, current Faculty President, reflected in his Guest Editorial in 2019,[1] the journal was launched in 1911 as the British Homoeopathic Journal. Publication has continued uninterrupted through these 110 years. The current issue of Homeopathy offers another eclectic mix of high-quality articles, from experimental research models – both mammalian[2] [3] and botanical[4] [5] – to clinical papers of various study designs,[6] [7] [8] [9] some of which focus on COVID-19. Meanwhile, at the time of writing, our Virtual Special Issue Homeopathy and COVID-19 [10] contains 13 articles, with more accepted manuscripts in the pipeline.

How remarkably prophetic were Dr Peter Fisher's words, included in his editorial for the journal's 100th volume in 2011, about the outlook for the next century that, ‘Perhaps catastrophes, perhaps of an ecological nature, will ambush us in the near future’.[11] The world is indeed suffering such a catastrophe, and it is to homeopathy's credit that its researchers and practitioners have sustained, if not enhanced, their original research output during these extraordinarily challenging times. As Dr Fisher's successor in the Editor's chair, I strive to ensure that Homeopathy is continuing to publish the highest possible standard of scientific and academic content. We complete this issue of the journal with a thought-provoking Debate article, which has its basis in history, advocating the need for a multidisciplinary approach to enhance the appreciation of homeopathy through its rich past.[12]

* Editor, Homeopathy




Publication History

Article published online:
29 April 2021

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