The scientific establishment of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome diagnostic criteria is the basic link to achieve standardization and normalization of TCM diagnosis and treatment. The ambiguous idea and method, incomplete key technology, and unformed development standard of the establishment of TCM syndrome diagnostic criteria restrict its development and application. Therefore, project team drafted the development guideline of TCM syndrome diagnostic criteria and modified it according to expert opinions, which was based on the technical system established previously. This guideline could be used as a reference for formulating diagnostic criteria. It is also applicable to clinical, teaching, and scientific research related to syndrome diagnostic criteria that professional personnel from various levels of TCM (integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine) medical, teaching institutions, and research institutes participated.
