OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine is an international peer-reviewed Open Access journal published quarterly online by LIDSEN Publishing Inc. It covers all evidence-based scientific studies on integrative, alternative and complementary approaches to improving health and wellness.

Topics contain but are not limited to:

  • Acupuncture
  • Acupressure
  • Acupotomy
  • Bioelectromagnetics applications
  • Pharmacological and biological treatments including their efficacy and safety
  • Diet, nutrition and lifestyle changes
  • Herbal medicine
  • Homeopathy
  • Manual healing methods (e.g., massage, physical therapy)
  • Kinesiology
  • Mind/body interventions
  • Preventive medicine
  • Research in integrative medicine
  • Education in integrative medicine
  • Related policies

The journal publishes a variety of article types: Original Research, Review, Communication, Opinion, Comment, Conference Report, Technical Note, Book Review, etc.

There is no restriction on paper length, provided that the text is concise and comprehensive. Authors should present their results in as much detail as possible, as reviewers are encouraged to emphasize scientific rigor and reproducibility.

Publication Speed (median values for papers published in 2023): Submission to First Decision: 5.9 weeks; Submission to Acceptance: 14.7 weeks; Acceptance to Publication: 8 days (1-2 days of FREE language polishing included)

Special Issue

The Personal and the Professional: Mindfulness, Spiritual Life and Health Care

Submission Deadline: May 31, 2024 (Open) Submit Now

Guest Editor

Robert Marx, D.Clin Psy.

Sussex Mindfulness Centre, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, East Brighton Community Mental Health Centre, Brighton General Hospital, Elm Grove, Brighton, BN2 3EW,UK

Website | E-Mail

Research interests: mindfulness, compassion, NHS, healthcare, embodiment, authenticity

About This Topic

One of the cardinal principles of secular health care is that you don’t bring in your personal spiritual outlook and practices into your work. To do so is seen as muddying the professional purpose, introducing subjective bias, and risking alienating people. At the same time, more and more empirical evidence supports the effectiveness of cultivating mindfulness, kindness, compassion and forgiveness for various mental and physical health challenges, and these concepts at least partly derive from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions. Often professionals delivering spiritually-derived interventions in secular healthcare contexts have their own personal beliefs and practices which influence their motivation and inform their resilience at work. One of the key facets of good quality mindfulness practice delivered in clinical settings is that it is ‘embodied’, which reflects the ability of the practitioner to teach from their own experience supported through daily personal mindfulness practice and annual retreat.
The purpose of this special edition is to explore ways in which personal spiritual and reflective practice informs professional healthcare. We are interested in papers that honestly, openly, and if appropriate, critically, reflect on the interface between the personal and the professional in this domain. No conclusion about the ‘correct’ way to approach this issue is assumed.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted through the LIDSEN Submission System. Detailed information on manuscript preparation and submission is available in the Instructions for Authors. All submitted articles will be thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process and will be processed following the Editorial Process and Quality Control policy. Upon acceptance, the article will be immediately published in a regular issue of the journal and will be listed together on the special issue website, with a label that the article belongs to the Special Issue. LIDSEN distributes articles under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License in an open-access model. The authors own the copyright to the article, and the article can be free to access, distribute, and reuse provided that the original work is correctly cited.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). Research articles and review articles are highly invited. Authors are encouraged to send the tentative title and abstract of the planned paper to the Editorial Office (icm@lidsen.com) for record. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office.

Welcome your submission!

Publication

Open Access Review

Keeping Your Head: Remembering to Think in Mindfulness Practice

Received: 24 April 2024;  Published: 20 August 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2403047

Abstract

It is an axiomatic in secular mindfulness that to become present is to direct attention away from thinking to physical sensation. While this can be a useful strategy to manage depressive rumination, as an automatic default position, it risks demonising our fundamental human capacity to purposefully think about the causes of sufferi [...]
Open Access Original Research

Exploring the Impact of Genuineness in Psychotherapy: A Self-Practice/Self-Reflection (SP/SR) Report

Received: 21 March 2024;  Published: 12 August 2024;  doi: 10.21926/obm.icm.2403046

Abstract

A growing body of evidence has highlighted the limitations of relying solely on positivist research when summarizing SP/SR results since it might hinder pluralistic perspectives from unique backgrounds and life experiences. In the present reflective report, I aim to conduct quantitative and qualitative research on myself to explore the impact [...]
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