Introduction:

The use of unconventional medicine grows in the population; but doctors have low level of knowledge of them, despite their interest, due to the questions from their patients regarding their risks and benefits. Yet, it is unknown what the instruments are and how many are they to assess the quality of research on these medications.

Objective:

To identify and to describe the tools used to assess the quality of research in unconventional medicine in order to know progress and origin of limitations.

Method:

An information search was carried out in scientific databases; collecting a total of 200, only 75 were considered adequate; although, only 12 answered the research question. The analysis comprised some of PRISMA recommendations.

Results:

Twelve instruments were found that guide and evaluate the quality of research in non-conventional medicine, nine of them are CONSORT extensions. China, South Korea and India are the countries that promote standardization of their traditional medicine, which represents a large part of alternative and complementary medicine from other parts of the world.

Conclusions:

It is required to follow specific procedures for assessing the quality of research in non-conventional medicine in order to find the most appropriate criteria for evaluating their efficacy and safety.

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