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MEDLINE Indexing Online Training Course

Category D - Chemicals and Drugs

Supplementary Concept Records (SCR)

In spite of the vast number of drug and chemical records in MeSH, many more drugs and chemicals appear in the biomedical literature. To accommodate the indexing of these drugs and chemicals, a special file, called Supplementary Concept Records (SCR), was created.

SCRs are created daily; they do not undergo the rigorous review procedure that MeSH records do. The SCR is clearly labeled MeSH Supplementary Concept Data (the regular MeSH record is labeled MeSH Descriptor Data).

Each SCR is mapped to one or more MeSH records.

1-benzylpiperazine is a supplementary chemical concept. It is mapped to the MeSH descriptor PIPERAZINES. That means that the article indexed with 1-benzylpiperazine will appear in PubMed under both 1-benzylpiperazine and PIPERAZINES. The indexer needs ONLY to index the SCR; the Heading Mapped to is added automatically.

The indexing of SCR terms is identical to the indexing of MeSH descriptors. In the IMS Browser, they appear in the scroll-down list alphabetically along with MeSH descriptors. The indexer can search the MeSH browser for complex SCR terms in the same manner as for complex MeSH terms. The Pharmacological Action of the SCR term must be added, if appropriate.

Last Reviewed: December 5, 2017