Frequently asked questions (and answers)

General

• What is OOREP?

OOREP is an open online homeopathic repertorisation system, in that it is open source software and only requires a web browser to run.

That is, if you don't like this web page, or would like to change something in the program, you can download its source code, edit it, compile it and run your own server. If you don't know how to do that, feel free to use this very server that you are on, which we have provided for your convenience.

OOREP was written primarily for people who are familiar with the term (homeopathic) repertorisation, such as professionals or students of homeopathy, but also and in particular for interested laypersons with merely a private interest in homeopathy (like the author of this software). It is not, however, a (professional) medicinal software for storing any kind of sensitive patient data or for obtaining medical analyses of any sorts. Consider OOREP as an electronic look-up tool only! It is not intended to and cannot replace the visit of a doctor/GP in case of an illness. See also the disclaimer at the bottom of this page!

• What is repertorisation?

Loosely speaking, repertorisation is the process of looking up categories in homeopathic repertory books. These books have been around for almost as long as homeopathy itself and are intended to help homeopathic practitioners select homeopathic remedies. Online or in general software-based repertorisation aims at making this look-up process more efficient. It does, however, not provide any information or recommendations, which the underlying sources (i.e., the homeopathic repertory books) don't already provide. So, in abstract terms you can think of online/electronic repertorisation as the efficient searching through homeopathy books.

• Why yet another homeopathic software?

There are indeed very good and mature homeopathy programs out there whose features exceed those offered by OOREP by far. However, these all suffer from one or both of the following problems: 1. they are extremely expensive (especially, if you like the author of OOREP do not make a living from a homeopathic practice), and 2. they are platform-specific; meaning, they require a certain version of an operating system and/or a license key to be installed on a specific computer, etc., which can be a practical challenge or at least an inconvenience. (For example, what if you update your computer or buy a new one?)

OOREP was written to be easily accessible by anybody with an interest in and basic understanding of homeopathic repertorisation. As such it doesn't offer the same advanced features that the commercial homeopathy programs do. Automated repertorisation, however, which is the key feature of any such homeopathy program, is offered, even including multiple different repertories.

Intellectual property

• Who wrote OOREP?

OOREP was written entirely by Andreas Bauer (see also contact section at the bottom of this site or impressum for German-speaking users) in his copious spare time. Its source code can be freely obtained from its git repository. It is published under the GNU General Public License (short: GPL) and as such OOREP comes with no warranty, no guarantees, not even fitness for a particular purpose.

• What repertories and materia medicas do you use?

At the moment, there is more than a dozen different repertories and materia medicas installed on this server. We do not consider them all to be part of OOREP itself though. Until further notice, the OOREP source code is only accompanied by the kent-de and publicum repertories as well as the boericke materia medica (see list below). The other repertories and materia medicas are served on this very server for your convenience, but are presently not intended for any further redistribution.

The following repertories are currently used on this server:

boen [under development]: T. F. Allen: Boenninghausen's Therapeutic Pocket Book, The Hahnemann Publishing House, Philadelphia (1891).
boericke: W. Boericke: Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, Boericke & Runyon, New York (1906).
bogboen: C. M. Boger: Boenninghausen's Characteristics and Repertory, Parkersburg, W. Va. (1905).
boger: C. M. Boger: General Analysis (ca. 1931).
bogsk: C. M. Boger: A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica, 2nd ed., Parkersburg, W. Va. (1916).
bogsk-de: German translation of bogsk by Naturheilpraxis Maier (2020). Used with friendly permission from Andreas Maier.
cowpert-de: German translation of the clinical index contained in A. C. Cowperthwaite's Text-Book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics (John B. Delbridge & Son, 1905) by Naturheilpraxis Maier (2021). Used with friendly permission from Andreas Maier.
dorcsi-de: M. Dorcsi: Symptomenverzeichnis, Hahnemann Institut, Greifenberg (2018). Used with friendly permission from Reinhard Rosé.
hering: C. B. Kneer: Repertory of Hering's Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica, F. A. Davis Co. for the Estate of Constantine Hering, Philadelphia (1896).
kent: J. T. Kent: Repertory of the Homoeopathic Materia Medica, 6th ed., Examiner Printing House, Lancaster, Pa. (1897).
kent-de: German translation of kent by the Bildungswerk für therapeutische Berufe/Joscha Körschgen. Published under the terms of the GPL v3 license as part of a "fork" of Vladimir Polony's OpenRep software (2012).
publicum: repertory v0.5 of the OpenRep software (derived from kent). Published by Vladimir Polony, Stupy 24, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia under the terms of the GPL v3 license (2008).
robasif: H. A. Roberts: Sensations as if - Repertory of Subjective Symptoms, Formur Intl. (1937).
tylercold: M. L. Tyler: Miniature repertory of the common cold taken from Pointers to the Common Remedies, British Homeopathic Association (1934).

And the following materia medicas are currently used on this server:

allen: H. C. Allen: Keynotes and Characteristics of some of the Leading Remedies of the Materia Medica, Boericke & Tafel, New York (1899).
allentf: T. F. Allen: The Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica, Boericke & Tafel, New York (1874).
boericke: W. Boericke: Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, Boericke & Runyon, New York (1906).
bogsk: C. M. Boger: A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica, 2nd ed., Parkersburg, W. Va. (1916).
clarke: J. H. Clarke: A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, The Homeopathic Publishing Company, London (1902).
heringc: C. Hering: Condensed Materia Medica, 4th ed., Boericke & Tafel, Philadelphia (1894).
heringc-de: C. Hering: Kurzgefasste Arzneimittellehre (German translation of heringc), Hahnemann Institut, Greifenberg (2017). Used with friendly permission from Reinhard Rosé.

Unless otherwise noted, the repertories and materia medicas were extracted from publicly available sources from the Internet, e.g., scans, PDFs, etc. We do not hold responsibility for any errors that may have occurred in the process. If you do happen to find any such error and report it to us, we will, however, attempt to correct it as soon as possible.

• Any plans to offer the modern/big repertories like Synthesis or Murphy?

Yes, we'd love to. For example, we have even spoken to Roger Zandvoort at some point about the inclusion of his repertory, but due to the limited amount of time we can invest in OOREP right now, we have no concrete plans when/if this will happen.

• Who made the graphics on this web site?

Please see the impressum (link at the bottom of this page) for the respective attribution.

• Which third-party libraries and fonts are used on this web site?

This web-site, which hosts a running version of OOREP, was built using a number of third-party libraries and fonts that are not part of OOREP or its git repository. You will find an overview in the impressum (link at the bottom of this page).

Search

• Why am I not getting good search results from OOREP?

There are possibly three major reasons, why you may be dissatisifed with the search results of this site:

1. the search returned too many results and you have trouble finding the one that is specific to your need. If that's the case, you can try restricting your search by adding additional search terms to narrow the scope. Alternatively, you can exclude certain search terms to make your search more specific. So, for example, rather than looking for pain, you could look for pain, -abdomen, -head, thereby excluding all results containing head or abdomen.

Info! Exclude certain symptoms using minus, like pain, -abdomen, -head.

2. the search doesn't return enough results for a single look-up. In this case, try using so-called wildcards. So, instead of looking for throat, dry (2 results in publicum), you could try looking for throat*, dry* (47 results in publicum). This also matches dryness, for example.

Info! Use the star-symbol as placeholder: pain* will also match painful, pain, painless, pains, etc.

3. Especially in materia medica search, you may find that results are not specific enough. For example, if you look for swollen gums as a symptom then gums, swollen gets all sections that contain symptoms about the gums and swellings, but not necessarily swollen gums. You can use exact search with explicit quotation marks for that as follows:

Info! Search for "gums swollen" instead of gums swollen (or even better: "gums sw*").

• Show me some EXAMPLE searches!

Combine wildcards and exclusion to find all sections that contain anything about swollen gums or swellings, but no sections that merely mention sweets, or sweet taste, etc.:

Valid: gum*, sw*, -sweet*

The exact search (that is, the use of quotation marks) is particularly useful for searching in a materia medica, but can be used in repertory search as well, of course.

Combine exact search and wildcard to find all sections that contain wisdom teeth or wisdom tooth (but not, wisdom of Hahnemann's method, for example):

Valid: "wisdom t*"

Invalid: "wisd*m teeth" (Why? A '*' can only be at beginning or end of a word.)

Combine exact search and wildcards to find all sections that contain spine pain, spine pains, spinal pain, or spinal pains, etc.:

Valid: "spin* pain*" (Note the use of two '*' in one exact search!)

Combine exact search with a plain search to find all sections that contain spine pain, spine pains, spinal pain, or spinal pains, etc. as well as headache:

Valid: "spin* pain*", headache

Combine two or more exact searches to find all sections that contain anything to do with heart palpitations and the exact words pain in:

Valid: "heart palp*", "pain in"

Combine exact search with exclusion to find all sections that contain anything to do with heart palpitations but not the exact words pain in:

Valid: "heart palp*", -"pain in"

Invalid: -"heart palp*", -"pain in" (Why? You need at least one positive search term.)

• When do I need the commas?

Search does not care, if you separate search terms with a comma (',') or not. A comma really only makes a difference within an exact search; that is, within an enclosed term "...".

Equal: pain*, head, left = pain* head left

Not equal: "back, pain" ≠ "back pain"

Other

• How does registration/login work?

As the above answers already indicate, what you see here is an early preview of OOREP. Registration is currently disabled in this phase and login only possible for selected beta-testers, so to speak. How long this phase will last, we cannot foresee right now.

• How much does OOREP cost?

The site www.oorep.com is FREE to use and there are currently no plans to change that in the future. Afterall, OOREP is open source software (for source code, refer to answers above).

• Do you have a cookie and privacy policy?

Yes, please see the policy link at the bottom of this site.

• Who do I contact and where may I get support from?

Please see the contact link at the bottom of this site. However, we basically offer no help in using or explaining this web site. We simply do not have the time to do so. Any other issues which you may have with OOREP or this site, can be forwarded to us.