
Medical Subject Headings
Welcome to Medical Subject Headings!
The NLM's curated medical vocabulary resource.
Our main purpose is to provide a hierarchically-organized terminology for indexing and cataloging of biomedical information such as MEDLINE/PUBmed and other NLM databases. We also distribute pharmaceutical information through our RxNorm database, and manage the curation of the UMLS and SnoMed database.
What's New
Visit our What's New page to see all recent MeSH developments including the most recent ones listed below
- A new class of Supplemental Records (SCRs) has been released
- The class 4 SCRs are devoted to specific organisms
- The records will be updated on a daily basis in response to new and important species appearing in the literature
- Indexers will be able to use the new organism SCRs on a timely basis
- 2018 MeSH files are now ready
- The MeSH Browser now displays 2018 MeSH and 2017 MeSH years
- 2018 Supplemental Records (SCRs) have been processed
- All 2018 files were finalized for public release November 20
- MeSH in Resource Description Format(RDF) is now in production
- The downloadable files contain a full representation of XML MeSH in RDF format
- An open MeSH API is available for retrieving MeSH data
- You can use our SPARQL query editor for querying MeSH data
- MeSH on Demand 2.0 has been re-engineered and improved in response to your suggestions.
- Matching MeSH terms are now highlighted in response to your submitted text
- MeSH headings now include links to scope notes
- Custom PubMed searches are more easily made
- Term expansion and tree-based searching features have been added
- You can now display of similar article titles from PubMed
Obtain MeSH Data
- Download electronic copies of MeSH.
- Lists of annual changes to MeSH.
- MeSH on Demand.
- Access RDF MeSH Data
- View MeSH Pubtypes
Learn About MeSH
- MeSH Fact Sheet
- Tutorials and Webinars
- MeSH Vocabulary
- Search and Retrieval using MeSH
- Publications and Presentations by MeSH staff
Related MeSH Efforts
- RxNorm: A drug vocabulary used for e-prescribing, formulary, medication history, government reporting, drug compendia mapping, and other uses
- Daily Med: Provides trustworthy information about marketed drugs in the United States
- Unified Medical Language System (UMLS®) Metathesaurus: A collection of biomedical names and codes grouped as sets of synonyms, derived from over 150 medical vocabulary sources.
- NLM Classification: A NLM vocabulary used for the arrangement of library materials in the field of medicine and related sciences.
User Input and Suggestions
- Make Suggestions for new MeSH vocabulary
- Corrections: Please let us know if you find a mistake in MeSH
- Downloading or Other Problems: Our technical staff can help