. an earlier version of this paper was written as part of charlotte khlbrandt 's msc dissertation project at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine . ck conducted the literature review , collected and analysed the data , interpreted the results and drafted the paper . we would like to thank dr alex mold , who co - supervised the msc dissertation and commented on a draft of this paper . we are also grateful for the wellcome trust 's commitment to cover open access charges . . an earlier version of this paper was written as part of charlotte khlbrandt 's msc dissertation project at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine . ck conducted the literature review , collected and analysed the data , interpreted the results and drafted the paper . we would like to thank dr alex mold , who co - supervised the msc dissertation and commented on a draft of this paper . we are also grateful for the wellcome trust 's commitment to cover open access charges .
light therapy is still used to treat a number of common diseases in russia . 
 the practice is firmly anchored in history : soviet clinical practice was divorced from the emerging field of evidence - based medicine . 
 medical researchers were cut off from international medical research and scientific literature , with much soviet scientific activity based on a particular socialist ideology . in this study , 
 the use of light therapy serves as a case study to explore tensions between international evidence - based medicine and practices developed in isolation under the soviet union , the legacy of which is to the detriment of many patients today . 
 we used four different search methods to uncover scientific and grey literature , both historical and contemporary . 
 we assessed the changing frequency of publications over time and contrasted the volume of literature on light therapy with more orthodox treatments such as statins and painkillers . 
 our search found an increasing number and comparatively large body of scientific publications on light therapy in the russian language , and many publications emanating from prestigious russian institutions . 
 combined with our analysis of the historical literature and our appraisal of 22 full text articles , this leads us to suggest that light therapy entered mainstream soviet medical practice before the stalinist period and still occupies an important position in contemporary russian clinical practice . 
 we propose that this outdated treatment survives in russia in part due to the political , economic and social forces that helped to popularize it during soviet times , and by the seeming justification offered by poorly executed studies .