science as an activity that should be more community-based /oriented, and this approach in turn leads to financial savings and improved allocation of resources (Cassel and Brennan 2007). Munro (2005) argues that observational studies have merit especially for personalized medicine and that better standards for them should be designed. Aronson (2003) points out that anecdotes are frequently published in compilations of the side effects of drugs and provide information of the potential adverse reactions or interactions, mechanisms, diagnostic techniques, or methods of management; anecdotes can generate or test hypotheses, and remind or educate; and, like trials, they can be subjected to systematic review, but of a different kind. Better standards for collecting anecdotes are needed and the participatory workshop approach might prove to be a useful standardized method for collecting this type of data. Animal science research Although ethnoveterinary medicine has great scientific potential, scientists need to choose their research projects based on career rewards – funding, papers and academic positions (what Janssen, 2002 calls the “context of pursuit”). Ethnoveterinary medicine needs to offer an equal opportunity for publication in high ranking journals as other studies. Journal editors form powerful network that concentrates intellectual energy on relatively specific and circumscribed problems. By publishing certain papers, these networks provide reputational credit and can shape decisions on what counts as useful and relevant work (Spear, 2004). What Janssen (2002) calls the “context of persuasion” since we will demonstrate to journal editors, peers, research students and funding agencies the relevance and validity of this workshop method which has significant differences from current standard methods. Bauer (2003) quotes other scientists who stated that “What makes discoveries really significant is “demonstrating them in a way that convinces the scientific and technical establishment” … “The important part of a scientific discovery in almost any aspect of science is the reception it receives.” The reliability of the published work of both participants has confirmed centuries of medicinal plant use by people across Europe and North America so it cannot be said to be at variance from accepted knowledge and thus needing extraordinary proof. In fact Germany has the highest rate of acceptance of herbal knowledge in the Western hemisphere. In 1998, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) program on Management of Social Transformations (MOST) and CIRAN (Centre for International Research and Advisory Networks) started collecting traditional practices that had proven effective in a particular context but that could also be effective in other contexts, if properly adapted and applied. Best practices from all over the world were selected and are presented as a portal in the on-line database at www.unesco.org/most/bpikreg.htm and www.ik-pages.net. Relevant Bibliographical References Aronson, J.k. 2003. Anecdotes as evidence. We need guidelines for reporting anecdotes of suspected adverse drug reactions. BMJ 326:1346. Atawodi SE, Ameh DA, Ibrahim S, et al. 2002. Indigenous knowledge system for treatment of trypanosomiasis in Kaduna state of Nigeria. J Ethnopharmacol 79:279-282. Bauer, Henry H. 2003. The Progress of Science and Implications for Science Studies and for Science Policy. Perspectives on Science 11 (2): 236-278. Berkhout, P., van Bruchem C. (eds.). Agricultural Economic Report 2010 of the Netherlands, 2010-054. Agric. Econ. Research Inst, the Hague. Bevan J, Lans C, Mathias M. (Eds). 2004. Alternative animal health care in British Columbia. A manual of traditional practices used by herbalists, veterinarians, farmers and animal caretakers. The Traditional Animal Health Care Collaborative. University of Victoria. Blanco E, Macía MJ, Morales R. 1999. Medicinal and veterinary plants of El Caurel (Galicia, northwest Spain). J Ethnopharmacol 65:113-124. Cassel, Christine K., Brennan, Troyen E. 2007. Managing Medical Resources. Return to the Commons? JAMA 297 (22): 2518-2520. Catley A. 1999. Methods on the Move. A Review of Veterinary Uses of Participatory Approaches and Methods Focussing on Experiences in Dryland Africa. London: International Institute for Environment and Development. Fink-Gremmels, J. 2005. Toxicology, pharmacology and future directions of JVPT: old and new Paradigms. J. Vet. Pharmacol. Therap. 28, 129–130. IIRR, 1994. Ethnoveterinary medicine in Asia: An information kit on traditional animal health care practices. 4 Vols. International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Silang, Cavite, Philippines. IIRR, 1996. Recording and using indigenous knowledge: A manual. International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Cavite, Philippines. ITDG and IIRR, 1996. Ethnoveterinary medicine in Kenya: A field manual of traditional animal health care practices. Nairobi, Kenya: Intermediate Technology Development Group and Int. Inst. of Rural Reconstruction. Janssen, Michel. 2002. COI Stories: Explanation and Evidence in the History of Science. Perspectives on Science 10 (4): 457-522. Lans C, Turner N, Khan T, Brauer G. 2007. Ethnoveterinary medicines used to treat endoparasites and stomach problems in pigs and pets in British Columbia, Canada. Vet. Parasitology 148: 325–340. Lawrence, Peter. A. 2007. The Mismeasurement of Science. Current Biology 17 (15): r583. Martin, M., et al .2001. Ethnoveterinary Medicine. An Annotated Bibliography of Community Animal Healthcare. London, ITDG. Mathias E. 2004. Ethnoveterinary medicine: harnessing its potential. Vet Bull 74:27N–37N. Munro, A.J. 2005. Commentary. The conventional wisdom and the activities of the middle range. The British Journal of Radiology, 78: 381–383. Nuwanyakpa M, Toyang N, Django S, Ndi C, Wirmum C. Ethnoveterinary healing practices of Fulani pastoralists in Cameroon: combining the natural and the supernatural. Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor 2000;8:3–6. Spear, Joseph Howard. 2004. Cumulative Change in Scientific Production: Research Technologies and the Structuring of New Knowledge. Perspectives on Science 12 (1): 55-85. Van Asseldonk T. and Beijer H. 2005: Herbal folk remedies for animal health in the Netherlands. 257-63 in: Proceedings of the 4th International Congress of Ethnobotany (www.iceb2005.com ) 21-26 Aug 2005; ed. Z.F. Erzug, Istanbul 2006.