MeSH will change editing System and Data Format

The newly designed MeDit editing system is scheduled to go live on May 19th this year. The existing system called M2000, which has been in use for 14 years will be retired at that point and can no longer be used due to MeSH data format changes.

Concurrent with change in the MeSH editing system the length of MeSH unique identifiers will be increased in order to accommodate the ever increasing number of concepts and terms in MeSH. The length of the unique identifier for elements such as Descriptors and Supplementary Concept Records will expand from 7 to 10 characters. 8-character unique identifiers will expand to 10 characters. The format of existing unique identifiers will not be changed. For additional information on character length changes see: //www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma13/ma13_mesh_ui_expand.html

MeSH Data Field Changes: