摘要Acupuncture is an ancient treatment method used in traditional Chinese medicine and has been popular-ized worldwide.Over the past decade,there has been an increase in the amount of acupuncture research,mostly comprised of randomized controlled trials(RCTs)that aimed to answer the question on the effi-cacy of acupuncture.However,poor methodology and low replicability in these acupuncture RCTs have resulted in uncertainty about the efficacy of acupuncture.In this review,current advancements and chal-lenges in acupuncture RCTs,regarding the methodological aspects of randomization,blinding,sham acupuncture and quality of reporting,were discussed.While there have been advancements in various aspects,current acupuncture RCTs still face pressing issues such as inadequate randomization and blind-ing,unviable sham acupuncture controls,and poor reporting quality.Given these limitations,this review seeks to identify the methodological problems that are responsible for these problems and to suggest solutions that could help to overcome them so as to improve the quality of future studies evaluating the efficacy of acupuncture.