Module 2—Introduction to Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the MeSH Browser

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Introduction to MeSH

  • MeSH is the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus
  • Consists of sets of terms arranged in a hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity
  • Organized hierarchically into 16 trees

MeSH Trees

  • Each tree is assigned a letter as an identifier
  1. Anatomy
  2. Organisms
  3. Diseases
  4. Chemical and Drugs
  5. Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment
  6. Psychiatry and Psychology
  7. Phenomena and Processes
  8. Disciplines and Occupations
  9. Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena
  10. Technology, Industry, Agriculture
  11. Humanities
  12. Information Science
  13. Named Groups
  14. Health Care
  15. Publication Characteristics
  16. Geographic Locations


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Last reviewed: 17 March 2009
Last updated: 17 March 2009
First published: 17 March 2009
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