The Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field operational definition of traditional, complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine (TCAIM) guides our selection of the research that is relevant to our work in supporting the production and dissemination of Cochrane reviews in this topic area. Our operational definition was described in a 2011 paper in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 

We continue to exclude four main categories of interventions from our scope:

1. Because vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are often used in conventional medicine, we developed general rules for considering vitamins and other supplements as within or outside our scope. When selecting Cochrane reviews for our scope, we have decided to exclude the following types of vitamin, mineral, and other nutrient interventions:
    
   1. vitamins and other supplements that are administered parenterally in hospital settings;
       
   2. dietary supplementation for treatment or prevention of medically diagnosed deficiency states or disorders; and
       
   3. vitamin or mineral supplements for preventing or treating disease in countries where vitamin or mineral deficiency is widespread;
       
2. We also exclude physical therapy and exercise therapies, with the exception of mind-body exercise (e.g., tai chi, yoga) or exercise that is designed to prevent or treat mental or emotional problems (e.g., exercise for depression);
    
3. We exclude psychotherapy, with the exception of unconventional psychotherapies (e.g., Morita therapy); and
    
4. We exclude supplements, nutritional interventions, and light therapy for preterm infants, which are likely to be carried out only in hospital settings as part of conventional care.

While some of these therapies may belong to a broad integrative approach to health, and some people consider them to be TCAIM, we do not currently include them within the scope of our Field.

The parameters of an operational definition of TCAIM will depend upon the goal of such a definition and vary according to time and context. To maximize the identification of research into therapies that may be considered relevant to complementary, alternative, or integrative medicine, we refer you to a recent project to construct a comprehensive list of such therapies. The construction of this list was informed by a systematic search of peer-reviewed and quality-assessed resources and consists of thousands of terms and synonyms of terms, and the methods is described in a 2022 paper in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies. A bibliographic database keyword search strategy based on this list was published in a 2022 paper also in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies. The full list of therapies is available here.