mesh

is a Ontology.

It is part of the OMOP collection.

The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a hierarchically-organized controlled vocabulary produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It serves as the standard thesaurus for indexing and cataloging biomedical and health-related information in MEDLINE/PubMed and other NLM databases.

Domains

biomedical, health, literature

Homepage

mesh

Infores ID

infores:mesh

FAIRsharing ID

Unknown

Product Summary

Products

From this Resource
ID Name URL Category Format Description
mesh.browser MeSH Browser search GraphicalInterface http The official MeSH Browser for searchi...
mesh.xml MeSH XML Data xmlmesh OntologyProduct xml MeSH data in XML format containing de...
mesh.rdf MeSH RDF Data 2025 OntologyProduct rdfxml MeSH data in RDF (Resource Descriptio...
mesh.ascii MeSH ASCII Data asciimesh OntologyProduct txt MeSH data in ASCII text format contai...
mesh.marc MeSH MARC 21 Data meshmarc OntologyProduct mixed MeSH data in MARC 21 bibliographic fo...
mesh.api.eutilities MeSH E-utilities API NBK25500 ProgrammingInterface http E-utilities API for programmatic acce...
mesh.api.rdf MeSH RDF API ui ProgrammingInterface http SPARQL endpoint and REST API for quer...
mesh.sparql.editor MeSH SPARQL Query Editor query GraphicalInterface http SPARQL query editor interface for int...
mesh.ondemand MeSH on Demand MeSHonDemand Product http MeSH on Demand service for suggesting...
mesh.documentation MeSH Documentation and Tutorials mesh.html DocumentationProduct http Comprehensive documentation about MeS...
From other Resources
ID Name URL Category Format Description
alzkb.browser AlzKB Graph Database Browser login GraphicalInterface http A browser interface for a knowledge g...
alzkb.data AlzKB Data Release (Version 2.0.0) v2.0.0 GraphProduct Memgraph data release for AlzKB.
spoke.graph SPOKE Graph GraphProduct The SPOKE knowledge graph containing ...
pharmkg.graph PharmKG graph 4077338 GraphProduct Cleaned benchmark graph (PharmKG-8k) ...
drugmechdb.graph DrugMechDB Graph Dataset zenodo.8139357 GraphProduct mixed Curated mechanistic drug–disease path...
microbiomekg.api MicrobiomeKG Plover API mbkp ProgrammingInterface http TRAPI web API for querying MicrobiomeKG
icees-kg.graph KGX distribution of the ICEES Exposures KP 1.5.0 GraphProduct kgx-jsonl KGX distribution of the ICEES Exposur...
icees-kg.trapi ICEES KG TRAPI API icees-kg-trapi ProgrammingInterface http Translator Reasoner API (TRAPI) endpo...
icees-kg.metadata ICEES KG Metadata metadata-metadata-get-icees-kg Product json Meta knowledge graph and metadata des...
athena.mappings Athena Concept Mappings start MappingProduct csv Concept mappings between different te...
forum.graph.dump FORUM Knowledge Graph Dump share.tar.gz GraphProduct Downloadable knowledge graph dump in ...
unibiomap.links UniBioMap Graph Links unibiomap.links.csv (1.3 GB) GraphProduct csv Core UniBioMap graph edges file.
unibiomap.auxs UniBioMap Graph Auxiliaries unibiomap.auxs.tsv (563.9 MB) GraphProduct tsv Auxiliary UniBioMap graph annotations...
unibiomap.pred UniBioMap Predicted Graph unibiomap.pred.csv (2.3 GB) GraphProduct csv Predicted UniBioMap graph edges with ...
unibiomap.pred.full UniBioMap Predicted Graph (Full) unibiomap.pred.full.csv (5.9 GB) GraphProduct csv Full unfiltered UniBioMap predicted g...
obo-db-ingest.mesh.tsv mesh Nodes TSV mesh.tsv (11.6 MB) Product tsv mesh Nodes TSV
athena.vocabularies Athena Vocabulary Downloads list Product csv Downloadable standardized vocabulary ...

Details

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a hierarchically-organized controlled vocabulary developed and maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). MeSH serves as the authoritative thesaurus for indexing, cataloging, and searching biomedical and health-related information across multiple NLM databases, most notably MEDLINE/PubMed.

Overview

MeSH provides a consistent way to retrieve information that may use different terminology for the same concepts. It consists of descriptors arranged in a hierarchical structure that permits searching at various levels of specificity. The vocabulary is updated annually, with new descriptors added and existing ones modified to reflect advances in medical knowledge.

Key Features

  • Hierarchical Structure: MeSH terms are organized in a tree structure from general to specific, allowing both broad and narrow searches
  • Controlled Vocabulary: Provides standardized terminology to improve search precision and recall
  • Cross-References: Includes entry terms and see-also references to guide users to appropriate descriptors
  • Qualifiers: Subheadings that can be combined with descriptors to specify particular aspects of a topic
  • Supplemental Concept Records (SCRs): Additional terms for chemicals, drugs, and other specific entities

Applications

MeSH is primarily used for:

  • Indexing articles in MEDLINE/PubMed and other biomedical databases
  • Literature searching and systematic reviews
  • Information retrieval in biomedical research
  • Cataloging library materials in medical collections
  • Supporting semantic web applications through RDF representation

Data Formats and Access

MeSH data is available in multiple formats to support different use cases:

  • XML: Structured data format with full hierarchical information
  • RDF: Semantic web format for linked data applications
  • ASCII: Plain text format for legacy systems
  • MARC 21: Library cataloging format

The vocabulary is accessible through various interfaces including the MeSH Browser, programmatic APIs, and downloadable data files. Updates are provided annually for the main vocabulary, with daily updates for supplemental concept records.

Is this information incorrect or incomplete? Request an update.

Created: October 10, 2025 | Last modified: April 10, 2026