INI
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) - INI
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a controlled vocabulary thesaurus for biomedical and health-related information, created and maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). It is widely used for indexing, cataloging, and searching literature in databases such as MEDLINE/PubMed. MeSH has a hierarchical tree structure consisting of 16 main categories (A-N, V, Z), with each category organized in up to 13 hierarchical levels. The 2025 edition contains approximately 30,956 main headings and 323,939 Supplementary Concept Records (SCRs). It covers all aspects of the medical field including anatomy, diseases, drugs, medical technology, and psychology, serving as the standard foundation for medical literature search worldwide.
medicine
biomedicine
controlled vocabulary
thesaurus
literature search
PubMed
MEDLINE
indexing
medical informatics
[item.anatomy]
code=A
slug=anatomy
name=Anatomy
description=Category containing terms related to body structures and regions.
[item.organisms]
code=B
slug=organisms
name=Organisms
description=Category containing terms related to biological organisms.
[item.diseases]
code=C
slug=diseases
name=Diseases
description=Category containing terms related to illnesses, disorders, and symptoms.
[item.chemicals-and-drugs]
code=D
slug=chemicals-and-drugs
name=Chemicals and Drugs
description=Category containing terms related to chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biological agents.
[item.analytical-diagnostic-therapeutic-techniques]
code=E
slug=analytical-diagnostic-therapeutic-techniques
name=Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment
description=Category containing terms related to medical procedures, tests, treatments, and equipment.
[item.psychiatry-and-psychology]
code=F
slug=psychiatry-and-psychology
name=Psychiatry and Psychology
description=Category containing terms related to mental health, behavioral sciences, and psychological methods.
[item.phenomena-and-processes]
code=G
slug=phenomena-and-processes
name=Phenomena and Processes
description=Category containing terms related to biological and physical phenomena and life processes.
[item.disciplines-and-occupations]
code=H
slug=disciplines-and-occupations
name=Disciplines and Occupations
description=Category containing terms related to health professions and academic disciplines.
[item.anthropology-education-sociology]
code=I
slug=anthropology-education-sociology
name=Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena
description=Category containing terms related to health and medicine from social science perspectives.
[item.technology-industry-agriculture]
code=J
slug=technology-industry-agriculture
name=Technology, Industry, Agriculture
description=Category containing terms related to health-related technology and industries.
[item.humanities]
code=K
slug=humanities
name=Humanities
description=Category containing terms related to humanistic aspects of medicine.
[item.information-science]
code=L
slug=information-science
name=Information Science
description=Category containing terms related to health information and information management.
[item.named-groups]
code=M
slug=named-groups
name=Named Groups
description=Category containing terms related to specific population groups and populations.
[item.health-care]
code=N
slug=health-care
name=Health Care
description=Category containing terms related to healthcare systems, services, and public health.
[item.publication-characteristics]
code=V
slug=publication-characteristics
name=Publication Characteristics
description=Category containing terms related to types and forms of literature.
[item.geographicals]
code=Z
slug=geographicals
name=Geographicals
description=Category containing terms related to geographic places and regions.