The increase in the popularity of complementary medicine applies not only to its use, but also to the research effort that is now being invested in this area. The best quality studies, however, are often published in mainstream medical journals of which thousands exist, many of which are not published in English. Therefore no single individual can aspire to scan all these publications and keep abreast of all the new research data related to complementary medicine. Sadly, the research that is published is not always of the best quality, nor are the investigators' claims always justified by their findings. Readers of research papers published in medical and complementary medicine related journals may not always have the critical appraisal skills that are necessary to evaluate the quality of the study reported.
Information is presented as structured summaries, each including an expert commentary on the paper.
FACT is a review journal that aims to present the evidence on complementary medicine in an analytical and impartial manner. FACT is written by research staff within the Department of Complementary Medicine, School of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, and also by members of FACT 's International Editorial Board . FACT is published by the Pharmaceutical Press , London.