Call for Papers from JACM: are you teaching classes in tai chi, qi gong, acupressure, or other self-care integrative health therapy?

key words:  research, peer-reviewed scientific journals, focus on integrative health

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine has a call out to submit your work and/or papers if you have been teaching classes in tai chi, qi gong, acupressure, foam-rolling, mindfulness, or other self-care therapies to patients.

Please read the journal's guidelines for submission and submit your qualifying work before February 28th, 2019, for their special focus issue, Innovation in Group-Delivered Services, due to publish about July 2019.

you can submit:

• original research
• commentary
• reviews
• particular interest in:
• cost outcomes
• payment strategies
• sustainable program models

also interested in commentaries:

• about related health policy
• reimbursement changes based on clinical research
• translational issues
• implementation research
• comparative cost analysis

Read more about submission options and guidelines at their website. 
Here are some excerpts from the guidelines page:

"An emerging mosaic of clinical evidence supports vastly expanded use of group services to deliver optimal care--especially in integrative health and medicine models."

"We see access to services among economically-challenged, multiethnic populations who cannot otherwise access integrative care.  We see emerging evidence of cost-savings and of increased satisfaction among practitioners who have a clinical component of group work." 

"Strategies for behavioral change show a facilitative leadership style with opportunities for interactivity and experiential learning are more effective methods of learning, of engagement and of empowerment.  For the values of integrative health, we see tremendous alignment."

"In July 2019, JACM will publish a Special Focus Issue on Innovation in Group-Delivered Services.  We are pleased to engage this work in partnership with Integrative Medicine for the Underserved (IM4US) and Centering Healthcare Institute." 

"We are encouraging  submission of original research, commentary, and/or reviews.  We are interested in effectiveness data from innovative models.  We seek reports on cost outcomes, payment strategies, and sustainable programs.  We are interested in group models focused on single methodologies tailored to group-based acupuncture and in multimodality approaches.  We are interested in methodologies tailored to group-based research and applied clinical education strategies on group clinical methods.  We seek commentaries that explore health policy and reimbursement changes based on clinical research." 

"In alignment with JACM''s ongoing editorial focus, we seek explorations of translational issues, implementation research, comparative cost analyses, and improvement research."

"We invite your submissions! We are interested in group-delivered services with intended clinical endpoints.  We anticipate that group services will be increasingly offered as medicine moves to become a system for enabling people toward health.  Our goal is to create a volume that will serve as guidance for increasing appropriate uptake of innovated group services in health-oriented payment and delivery of the future."

Manuscript submission due date:  February 29, 2019

"When submitting your paper, please select the Innovation in Group-Delivered Services 2019 Special Issue manuscript category to ensure it is considered for this special issue.  Original manuscripts should be no longer than 3000 words and Systematic Reviews should be no longer than 4500 words.  Title, abstract, acknowledgments, disclosures, references, and figure/table legends do not count toward the word limit.

"Additional feature:  as an additional feature in this JACM Special Focus Issue, we urge your submission of a 500-word commentary to reflect on next steps for group-delivered services:  controversies, unusual experiences (not case reports), models of care, educational models, etc.  We will select from those submitted a set that will be published together to capture the challenges and opportunities for this moment for the field."