About Deutsche Heilpraktiker Zeitschrift

Deutsche Heilpraktiker Zeitschrift

The Deutsche Heilpraktiker Zeitschrift (DHZ) is the specialist journal for non-medical practitioners (Heilpraktiker), naturopathy and complementary medicine in Germany, published eight times a year by the Karl F. Haug Verlag within the Georg Thieme Verlag in Stuttgart. Each issue is built around a focus topic examined from the perspective of different therapeutic approaches, combining diagnostics, therapy concepts, case reports, medicinal plant portraits and practice management with news from research, professional policy and medicines law. The journal offers certified continuing education for Heilpraktiker, with 18 DHZ training points available per year, and members of the Bund Deutscher Heilpraktiker (BDH) receive it as part of their membership. With a print run of around 5,900 copies and 146,000 digital uses per year, it is the central professional medium for Germany's Heilpraktiker community.

Overview

Heilpraktiker are state-licensed non-medical practitioners who form a distinct pillar of the German healthcare system, working in naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy and other complementary methods. The DHZ serves this profession as its leading journal, addressing both established practitioners and trainees preparing for the Heilpraktiker examination. Published by the Haug imprint of the Thieme group, one of Germany's major medical and scientific publishers, the journal combines the editorial standards of a professional periodical with the practical orientation its readers need for their daily work in the practice.

The journal appears eight times a year, and every issue follows the same proven architecture: a focus topic (Schwerpunktthema) illuminated from the viewpoint of several therapeutic traditions, so that readers encounter, for example, a musculoskeletal complaint discussed through osteopathic, phytotherapeutic, homeopathic and conventional-naturopathic lenses. Around this core, the journal offers richly illustrated presentations of diagnostics and therapy, experience reports from practice, medicinal plant portraits, and sections on practice organisation, professional policy and medicines law. Regular features include short interviews, commentaries, infographics, a knowledge quiz and the HPA-Prüfungstrainer, with practical index cards for preparing for the oral Heilpraktiker examination.

Certified continuing education is integrated into the journal: readers can earn DHZ-Fortbildungspunkte by completing the training questionnaires, with 18 points available per year. The journal follows a hybrid publishing model, with articles available in print and online via the Thieme Connect platform, where they carry digital object identifiers under the prefix 10.1055/s-00000135.

History

The DHZ is published by the Karl F. Haug Verlag, a Stuttgart-based imprint specialising in naturopathy and complementary medicine that operates within the Georg Thieme Verlag group. The Haug name has long been associated with naturopathic literature in Germany, and the DHZ continues this tradition as the imprint's flagship periodical for the Heilpraktiker profession.

The journal was developed as a dedicated professional medium for Heilpraktiker at a time when complementary medicine was gaining ground in Germany and practitioners needed a reliable, practice-oriented source of continuing education. Its concept of examining each focus topic from multiple therapeutic perspectives reflects the pluralism of the Heilpraktiker profession, in which practitioners combine methods from different schools rather than adhering to a single doctrine.

A significant institutional anchor is the cooperation with the Bund Deutscher Heilpraktiker e.V. (BDH), the federal association of German Heilpraktiker, whose members receive the journal as part of their membership. This partnership gives the DHZ a stable core readership and a direct line to the profession's largest representative body, while the journal maintains its editorial role as an independent professional medium. The digital expansion through Thieme Connect, with online-first articles, e-journal access and digital continuing education, has extended the journal's reach beyond the print circulation into the daily digital routines of practitioners. The journal's certified training programme, introduced to give Heilpraktiker a structured way of documenting their continuing education, has become one of its most valued features: with 18 training points available per year, readers can systematically build a verifiable training record simply by working through the issues, a proposition that resonates in a profession where formal continuing-education requirements are a subject of ongoing political debate.

Coverage and Content

The focus topics that structure each issue span the full range of naturopathic and complementary practice: musculoskeletal complaints, digestive disorders, skin diseases, respiratory conditions, gynaecological topics, paediatric naturopathy, pain therapy, and psychosomatic connections, among many others. The signature format "4 Fachleute – 4 Behandlungsstrategien" (four experts, four treatment strategies) presents the same clinical problem through four different therapeutic approaches, giving readers a comparative view that respects the methodological diversity of the profession.

Diagnostics and therapy are presented with rich illustration, including functional anatomy features that explain the anatomical basis of naturopathic treatments. Medicinal plant portraits introduce the materia medica of phytotherapy, while case and experience reports share practical lessons from colleagues' practices. The practice management section addresses the business side of running a naturopathic practice: billing, marketing, quality management and dealing with the legal framework, including medicines law (Arzneimittelrecht), which is of particular importance for Heilpraktiker.

The news section covers research developments, professional policy and healthcare politics affecting the profession, with short interviews, commentaries and infographics providing quick orientation. Patient information materials help practitioners communicate with their clientele, and the knowledge quiz and examination trainer serve trainees and support lifelong learning. The certified continuing education programme, with its questionnaires and training points, turns reading the journal into documented professional development.

Organization and Ownership

The DHZ is published by the Karl F. Haug Verlag in the Georg Thieme Verlag KG, based in Stuttgart. Thieme is one of Germany's leading medical and scientific publishers, and the Haug imprint is its specialist house for naturopathy and complementary medicine. The journal's editorial team works within this structure, commissioning articles from Heilpraktiker, physicians specialising in naturopathy, pharmacists and other experts in complementary methods.

The institutional partnership with the Bund Deutscher Heilpraktiker e.V. (BDH) is central to the journal's position: BDH members receive the DHZ through their association, which secures a substantial part of the circulation and embeds the journal in the profession's organisational life. The journal's media data name the readership as Heilpraktiker, Heilpraktiker for psychotherapy, pharmacists, physicians practising naturopathy and other medical professionals.

The business model combines subscriptions from individuals and institutions, the association distribution through the BDH, single-issue sales, and advertising from manufacturers of naturopathic remedies, practice equipment and training providers. The hybrid publishing model allows both subscription-based and open-access publication, with article processing charges documented for open-access contributions.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is the Thieme Connect platform, where current and archived issues are available as e-journals with full-text search, digital object identifiers and online-first publication. The platform records 146,000 total uses per year, reflecting the journal's integration into practitioners' digital research routines. Digital continuing education is fully integrated: readers can complete the training questionnaires online and collect their DHZ-Fortbildungspunkte electronically.

The Thieme webshop and landing pages present the journal with subscription options, free trial issues and browsable sample editions, making it easy for prospective readers to evaluate the product. The publisher's media site provides advertising customers with circulation data, reader structure and format information. While the journal's social media presence follows the professional conventions of medical B2B publishing, its digital strategy centres on the Thieme Connect platform as the service hub where reading, research, continuing education and subscription management come together for the Heilpraktiker community. Trial subscriptions and free sample issues lower the threshold for new readers, allowing interested practitioners to test a full current issue, including its digital archive access, before committing to a subscription.