Frequently Asked Questions

General information faq

Q: What makes The Lantern different?: A: We feel that there has been an overly vigorous push for Chinese medicine to become “scientific” - i.e., to conform with the current bio-medical paradigm. We believe that to do so would be like cutting a large solid oak from its roots, and trying to graft it upon a two-year-old sapling.
There is an almost unimaginable amount of accumulated data on this medical system: books, clinical records, examinations, essays, and records of observations of nature and human nature that go far beyond what would be considered ‘professional’ level in the West (as a single example, the Daoist and Buddhist mental sciences, which include diagnosis and prescription for a wide variety of aberration).
We wish to improve access to this material for Western readers.
Q: Where is it based, and who produces it?: A: The Lantern is produced in Melbourne, Australia, by Bettina Brill, Steve Clavey, and Michael Ellis. Bettina handles subscriptions and financials, Steve handles content, and Michael handles design and printing. Each of us thinks the other two work harder.
Q: Are you only interested in articles on traditional Chinese medicine?: Not necessarily. Our focus is on information of clinical and personal relevance to practitioners of Chinese medicine. Thus articles on related areas such as Chinese culture, and the clinical encounter, may also be of interest. Contact us and we can discuss your idea: E-Mail

Journal subscription faq

Q: How can I order back issues?: A: Please proceed to the archive. There you can find all the volumes and issues that are available for back-ordering. Simply select your account type (Institutional or Individual) and residency (Australia or Overseas) then click on the respective button, which adds the item to your shopping cart. You have the option of using your Paypal account or a credit card as funding during the secure, online payment process.
Q: Do you have an electronic version of your journal?: A: No, we mail out the journal in a hardcopy print format. However, there will always be articles of interest for online reading listed in the archive, as well as articles available for purchase in the Adobe PDF format. We will also be making a CD-Rom available for purchase at the end of 2008 with complete articles from the previous five years.

Article submission faq

Q: What kind of articles do you accept?

A: We prefer to have articles that focus on the more “traditional” side of Chinese medicine, whether herbs or acupuncture.

Q: How can I submit an article?

A: You can e-mail your article, but make sure to check our submission guidelines.

Q: What type of format should we use to submit our article?

A: We welcome submissions but do prefer articles to be submitted as an e-mail attachment in MS Word. Articles should include endnotes (preferable to footnotes) and reference sections. Please follow APA style (http://www.jasmincori.com/html/APA_Style.htm), and do not double-space paragraphs. Also please do not put double-spacing at the end of each sentence.

Q: Is there a style for references?

A: References should be given wherever possible for quotations and specific information referred to in the text.

In-text citation: (Author's last name and initial, Year)

In the “References” section:

For books: Author. (Year). Title. City: Publisher.
For book sections/chapters: Author (Year). Title. In (Ed.), Book Title (pages). City: Publisher.
For journals: Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Vol., pages.

For examples of all of the above, please see our published Submission Guidelines

Q: Should I put tone marks on the pinyin in my article? If so, how do I do it?

Please use Times Pinyin or, if that is not possible, Palapinyin, for inserting tones. We have occasional trouble reproducing tones in the fonts we use in the journal, but fewer problems when we stick to these two fonts.

Mandarin Tools has a good general reference to Chinese and English on computers (http://www.mandarintools.com/faq.html).

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Advertising guidelines faq

Q: How can we advertise?: A: Please follow our published advertising guidelines. For any specific query not covered in the aforementioned guidelines, please contact the advertising department.
Q: What type of format should we use to submit our advertising?: A: Copy supplied as finished artwork should be high-resolution (300 dpi) PDF or JPEG files. Our page size is standard A4 (210 x 297mm); add 5mm all around if ink bleeds to edge of pages (i.e. 220 x 307mm) and please remember to omit crop marks when creating your PDF. We are happy to typeset ads for you, in which case supply as a Word document or text file and send any graphics separate to the document (i.e. not embedded in Word). Graphics can be in the form of JPEGs, PDFs, TIFF or EPS files of suitable resolution.