Acupuncture has been widely used in the West in recent years and demand has been growing for scientific evaluation of its clinical efficacy.The practice of evidence-based medicine has brought new challenges in the design of acupuncture research

and publication of randomized clinical trials on acupuncture has significantly increased.While systematic reviews of these trials have advanced our current knowledge

they have exposed deficiencies in research design and revealed that one design can not answer all research questions.Few clinical studies conducted in China have been published in the West

and most published in Chinese suffer from methodological design flaws that render the results unreliable and unconvincing.Such flaws include inadequate or no randomization

inadequate control

unsatisfactory outcome measurements

lack of proper concealment

insufficient follow-up

and improper statistical analysis.To foster high quality acupuncture clinical research in China

we must cultivate innovation and creativity in research design.It is unwise to simply follow or copy the research methodology of Western pharmaceutical studies.Acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) must be evaluated using rigorous scientific methods that preserve the essence of TCM concepts

so that acupuncture and TCM

these ancient healing arts

can continue to play an important role in the health care systems of modern societies.