Respiratory tract infectious diseases (RTIDs) are the most commonly seen conditions in clinical practice. While for most RTIDs effective conventional medical treatment is limited, complementary and alternative (CAM) approaches are popular health care options used by patients for treatment and symptom management. We invite investigators to contribute original research or review articles of CAM or integrated conventional and CAM therapies. Therapies of interest include acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), other nonpharmacological interventions, and other complementary and alternative therapies studied independently or integrated with conventional treatment for the prevention or treatment of common cold (acute upper respiratory tract infection), acute bronchitis, measles, sore throat (pharyngitis), influenza, asthma, and pneumonia.

We are particularly interested in methodological topics for the purpose of improving the quality of clinical trials of complementary and alternative medicines and exploring development of new methodologies. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Complementary and alternative treatments alone or integrated with conventional therapies for treatment of any respiratory tract infectious disease
• Complementary and alternative treatments alone or integrated with conventional therapies for prevention of any respiratory tract infectious disease
• Assessment of conduct quality for clinical studies of complementary and alternative medicine in any clinical medicine discipline
• Assessment of reporting quality for clinical studies of complementary and alternative medicine in any clinical medicine discipline
• Assessment of methodological issues in reviews of CAM

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