Peer-reviewed: What does it mean that there are over 350 peer-reviewed scientific studies on the Transcendental Meditation program?
Every year, each of the major research journals receive hundreds of research studies on various topics, submitted by scientists around the world who wish to share their research findings with other scientists and the academic community.The submitted studies are read by an editorial board of scientists: the research is peer-reviewed, scrutinized by other scientific minds to determine which studies reflect the highest standards of science and are most promising. Is the study well designed? Will it advance a particular field of science? Might the research a make a significant contribution to society? An editorial board’s intention is to select only the strongest studies for publication. Studies can be rejected for many reasons: if their conclusions are not well supported by the data, if they contain statistical errors, if they do not use sufficient controls or if they merely reiterate facts already known.
Because the Transcendental Meditation technique is still a novel field of research, studies on the TM technique are generally considered to be outside the mainstream of conventional science; thus it is natural that scientists involved in the peer-review process would tend to view such studies with more skepticism than other research.
Yet hundreds of research studies on the TM technique have appeared in these journals over the past four decades — and new studies continue to appear. The fact that so many research studies on the Transcendental Meditation technique have survived the peer-review process and been accepted for publication in the most prestigious journals is a testament to the strength of the science validating the technique.
Journals publishing research on the Transcendental Meditation program:
The peer-reviewed journals where research on the TM program has been published include International Journal of Neuroscience, American Journal of Cardiology, American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Education, Lancet, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Memory & Cognition, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Psychophysiology, British Journal of Educational Psychology, American Heart Association’s Stroke, Intelligence, American Journal of Hypertension, and Psychosomatic Medicine.
Expanded list of the peer-reviewed journals
