A survey to understand the need for quality indicators for ayurveda blogs

Abstract

Introduction: Blogging is becoming a very popular new mode of knowledge dispersal. Ayurveda blogs are becoming pervasive, but there are no standards set to check the quality of the blogs. Moreover, no study was done to check for the quality of the Ayurveda blogs. Methods: This study was conducted to assess the quality of Ayurveda blogs using modified Delphi consensus recommendations such as identity and qualifications of author, distinction between facts and opinions, advertisements and content, accuracy, citations, and consistency with citations. Forty Ayurveda blogs having more than 20000 social media followers were selected for the study. Results: Only 62.5% of the blogs had author's names and 37.5% of the blogs had disclosed author's qualifications. Only 5 blogs (16.66%) had cited references and 12 blogs (40%) had no clear distinctions between advertisement and content. About 90% of the blogs did not list the conflict of interest. Conclusion: Blogs for marketing the products, ghost writing, and opinionated blogging are eclipsing the genuineness of Ayurveda. Ayurblogs have lots of opportunities and hence, need to be monitored. There should be a blogging code for Ayurveda blogs. Unethical blogging should be made a punishable offense.