Indexing with MeSH Vocabulary

NLM indexers examine articles and assign the most specific MeSH heading(s) that appropriately describes the concept(s) discussed.

• As many as 15 headings may be assigned.
• When there is no specific heading for a concept, the indexer will use the closest, general heading available.

Indexers can also assign Subheadings to further describe a particular aspect of a MeSH concept.

• Examples of Subheadings are: diagnosis, surgery, metabolism, pathology.

In addition to assigning MeSH terms that describe the topic of the article, the indexer provides terms that reflect:

• the age group of the population studied
• the nature of the studies: e.g., human vs. animal, male vs. female
• the material represented (Publication Types) e.g., Clinical Trials, Editorial, Review

In a later section of this tutorial, you will learn how to use PubMed's MeSH Database to find MeSH terms for searching.

For more information about MeSH, see the Basics of MeSH web site.