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What's New for 2018 MeSH

What's New for 2018 MeSH. NLM Tech Bull. 2017 Nov-Dec;(419):e8.

November 30, 2017 [posted]

MeSH is the National Library of Medicine (NLM) controlled vocabulary thesaurus that is updated annually. NLM uses the MeSH thesaurus to index articles from thousands of biomedical journals for the MEDLINE/PubMed database and for the cataloging of books, documents, and audiovisuals acquired by the library.

Overview of Vocabulary Development and Changes for 2018 MeSH

474 Descriptors added
106 Descriptor terms replaced with more up-to-date terminology
7 Descriptors deleted
1 Qualifier (Subheading) deleted

Totals by Type of Terminology

28,939 MeSH Descriptors
79 Qualifiers
116,909 Total Descriptor Terms
244,154 Supplementary Concept Records

Changes of Note for 2018

The following changes are detailed in MEDLINE Data Changes—2018.

The MeSH qualifier (subheading) /contraindications was deleted.
Three new Publication Types are available for 2018:
- Adaptive Clinical Trial
- Equivalence Trial
  
  Note three new related MeSH headings:
  - Adaptive Clinical Trials as Topic
  - Equivalence Trials as Topic
  - Proof of Concept
- Expression of Concern
Expanded and updated terminology areas:
- Isotopes and Radioisotopes
- Smoking
- Sugars
- Virus terminology and new Supplementary Concept Record (SCR) class for Organisms