2017 MEDLINE Data Changes

Posted by Alan Carr on December 2nd, 2016 Posted in: Announcements, NLM Resources, PubMed, Search Tools

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MeSH vocabulary has been updated for 2017. The MeSH Browser currently points to the 2017 MeSH vocabulary with a link to the 2016 MeSH Vocabulary. Searchers should consult the Browser to find MeSH headings of interest and their relationships to other headings. The Browser contains MeSH heading records that may include Scope Notes, Annotations, Entry Terms, History Notes, Allowable Qualifiers (Subheadings), Previous Indexing, and other information. It also includes Subheading records and Supplementary Concept Records (SCRs) for substances and diseases that are not MeSH headings. MEDLINE records with updated MeSH are anticipated to be in PubMed in mid-December 2016. This year 77 MeSH headings were either changed or deleted and replaced with more up-to-date terminology, and 629 new MeSH headings, including two new Publication Types, were added to MeSH in 2017. In order to improve indexing consistency and efficiency and to make MEDLINE searching easier and more straightforward, a new subheading, “diagnostic imaging,” was added. It replaces three existing subheadings; “radiography,” “radionuclide imaging,” and “ultrasonography.” For an overview of the many other 2017 MEDLINE data changes, visit the NLM Technical Bulletin.