What is MeSH?
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is a vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles in PubMed and MEDLINE. It is controlled by the NLM (National Library of Medicine). You can search for medical terms in the MeSH Database. The vast majority of articles in PubMed (> 90%) are associated with a set of MeSH terms that describe the content. MeSH terms are added manually by indexers of the NLM.
Why search with MeSH?
By using MeSH terms in your search, the various synonyms of a term are automatically included in the search query.
Example: In literature the concept of 'cancer' can be described in various ways: cancer, cancers, tumor, tumour, neoplasms etc. If you were to search using the word 'neoplasms' only, you would miss articles. If you search with the MeSH term 'neoplasms', you will find articles on this subject no matter which words were used to describe this concept.
But: searching with MeSH alone is not enough! Why?
- You will not find the latest articles
MeSH terms are manually assigned to articles. As this takes time, the latest articles will not have been assigned any MeSH terms yet and therefore will not appear in your search results if you only use MeSH terms in your search. - There is no appropriate MeSH term
Sometimes there is no MeSH term for the concept you are interested in. In that case, it is important to search (additionally) for relevant words in the title and abstract, for instance.
Demo: How to search with MeSH (3:03)
MeSH - extra information
The MeSH Database provides additional information on all MeSH terms (see the Raw Foods example below):
- Definition of a MeSH term
- Subheadings: contexts or aspects to restrict a MeSH term
- Entry terms: similar words (synonyms) that are grouped together under the same MeSH term
- The ordering of related MeSH terms; MeSH terms are hierarchically ordered in an inverted tree structure. A MeSH term can fall under multiple categories.
- Closely related terms (if present) under See Also
What is the difference between 'MeSH', 'MeSH major topic' and 'MeSH no explode'? For explanations follow this MeSH Tutorial.
Based on a work of the University Library of Nijmegen https://libguides.ru.nl/