The American Botanical Council (ABC), Austin, TX, published its 6,000th HerbClip on Wednesday, April 15. An essential resource for scientists, researchers, health professionals, and others, HerbClips are two- to three-page summaries and critical reviews of scientific journal articles covering medicinal plant-related human clinical research, analytical methods, regulatory data, market information, ethnobotanical reviews, conservation and sustainability studies, and much more.
 
HerbClip summaries and reviews are typically focused on the growing body of human clinical trials for herbs and phytomedicinal products, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses of such clinical trials, according to ABC. These articles are drawn from a wide variety of peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals, as well as occasional monographs, government documents, special reports, trade journals, and news articles. In addition to summarizing the original article, HerbClips often include insights, perspectives, criticism, and links to other articles or resources.
 
Per ABC style, HerbClip reviews always provide the trade name of the medicinal product on which the study is based — including the name of the company that produced the tested material or product — as well as a description of the product, extract, or material so that the reader is able to have a better understanding of the potential significance of the study’s results. HerbClip summaries and reviews are vetted by editors and peer reviewers before they are published to help ensure their accuracy.
 
“There has been a virtual explosion of scientific and clinical publications on herbs, medicinal plants, phytomedicines, essential oils, so-called ‘functional foods,’ and medicinal fungi in the past several decades,” noted Mr. Blumenthal. “HerbClip is probably one of the most robust databases available anywhere that provides researchers and other interested parties a much deeper dive into the herbal science and clinical literature than merely reading a study’s abstract”
 
“I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank HerbClip’s managing editor Lori Glenn for her long time service to ABC and the herbal community for her stewardship of HerbClip for over 11 years,” added Mr. Blumenthal. “ABC also gratefully acknowledges HerbClip writers Heather Oliff, PhD, who has written over 1,120 HerbClips since 1999, and Mariann Garner-Wizard, who has written more than 1,000 HerbClips since 1999.”