Marianne Trevorrow,1 MA, ND
This letter will be relatively brief, as we also have a Guest Editorial for this edition from Lloyd, Cooley, and Steele introducing the work of the World Naturopathic Federation (WNF) research team behind the umbrella reviews that make up this Special Edition, our first on our new digital platform.
Instead, I’d like to reflect briefly on the journey we have taken at CAND Journal since we first discussed transitioning to a digital Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform in 2020. At the time, we knew we would have to build out a fully articulated set of Submission Standards and Guidelines suitable to a naturopathic medical publication, and after an extensive search, we were very grateful to have found a team at SG Publishing that was experienced with the unique challenges of defining our space as a science-based publication, while incorporating our naturopathic philosophy and extensive use of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicines (TCIM). As almost all our readers know, we began our new site build out in early 2021, and we were able to publish our first digital edition at the end of September 2021, right in the middle of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Since that time, our small but very dedicated editorial team has carried out extensive outreach efforts in North America and overseas to try to bring attention to and build impact for CANDJ, both within and outside the profession. One of the most important ways we have done this is to make naturopathic doctor–led research freely available from point of publication on our Editor Selections page. The point of doing this is to showcase the outstanding work done by many of our Canadian colleagues, part of our mission at CANDJ since our digital inception.
Within these last two years, we have also undergone further updates to our Policies and Guidelines to include guidelines for the nomenclature of TCIMs (which we developed based on CONSORT guideline extensions relating to herbal and Chinese medicine)1,2 and to incorporate standards for Indigenous authorship, the use of Indigenous medicines, and citation standards for traditional Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.3
We are now entering our third year as a digital publication, and I’m delighted to be able to introduce this Special Edition, containing six umbrella reviews from the WNF, an international task force of researchers and clinicians supported by the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and the Australian Research Consortium in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM). To reach as wide an audience as possible, CANDJ has agreed to make this entire edition an Open Access publication; in this way, we hope to demonstrate our commitment to publishing the work of naturopathic researchers, internationally as well as within Canada.
As this edition also brings us to the end of 2023, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very restful holiday season and peaceful new year.
1Editor in chief, CAND Journal.
Not applicable.
I have read and understood the CAND Journal’s policy on conflicts of interest and declare that I have none.
This research did not receive any funding.
1. Gagnier JJ et al. Reporting randomized controlled trials of herbal interventions: an elaborated consort statement. Ann Intern Med. 2006;144(5):364–367. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-144-5-200603070-00013
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2. Cheng C-W et al. CONSORT extension for Chinese herbal medicine formulas 2017: recommendations, explanation and elaboration. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167(2):112–121. https://doi.org/10.7326/M16-2977
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3. Gilbert C, McCarthy J, Redvers N, van Erkelens J, Connors S, Trevorrow M. Reconciliation and publication standards at CANDJ. CAND Journal. 2022;29(3):3–4. https://doi.org/10.54434/candj.124
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Correspondence to: Dr. Marianne Trevorrow, MA, ND, Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors, 20 Holly Street, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M4S 3B1, Canada. E-mail: drmtrevorrow@cand.ca
To cite: Trevorrow M. Editor's letter: WNF/COVID-19 natural therapies special edition. CAND Journal. 2023;30(4):1. https://doi.org/10.54434/candj.167
Received: 24 November 2023; Accepted: 24 November 2023; Published: 28 December 2023
© 2023 Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors. For permissions, please contact candj@cand.ca.
CAND Journal | Volume 30, No. 4, December 2023