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How to Search in PubMed: MeSH Terms

This is a general guide to searching Pubmed, the world's largest database of biomedical citations and abstracts.

What is MeSH?

MeSH tree

Correct keywords are essential for searching. Most literature databases use controlled terms, also called keywords, but the way in which they are used may vary. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) are standardized keywords that you can look up in the MeSH Database.
Over ninety per cent of PubMed articles have MeSH terms assigned to them to provide information on the content of the articles. MeSH terms are assigned manually by indexers of the NLM (National Library of Medicine).

Building Search in PubMed

More About MeSH

1. Definition
Make sure you always double check the description to see whether the term is relevant to your topic. For example:

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Substances that reduce the growth or reproduction of BACTERIA.
Year introduced: 2004(1963)

2. Treeview
​Keywords are sorted in the MeSH database according to a treeview, showing the position of the term in a hierarchy. It can be useful to examine terms located higher in the tree to see what they cover. You might find that these terms are more appropriate to your query. On the other hand, you might also benefit from terms located lower in the tree to help you find articles that are far more specific. For example:

Anti-Infective Agents
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Antibiotics, Antitubercular
Antitreponemal Agents
Antitubercular Agents
Antibiotics, Antitubercular
beta-Lactamase Inhibitors
Leprostatic Agents


3. Explosion
The standard setting in PubMed is to search for a term including all narrower terms below it in the hierarchy. You may opt to omit these narrower terms from your search by ticking the box:

Do not include MeSH terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy

4. Tips on the use

1. Plural or singular (Ex. disease - diseases).

It is recommended to use the MeSH database. There you will see 

  • the term as it is defined for MeSH
  • the entry terms (terms are similar to the name of the MeSH, but they are not subject headings. They are not automatically searched when you use the MeSH term. These are alternate terms, synonyms and variations that you should consider utilizing as keywords).
MeSH Infection Control Practitioners. 
Entry term Practitioner, Infection Control; Practitioners, Infection Control; Infection Control Practitioner (see att).

 

2. MESH search OR All fields search might be important for a number of reasons:

  • You will find articles that have not yet been indexed in PubMed: MeSH terms have not yet been assigned to them.
  • It is not possible to cover all concepts with a single MeSH term.
  • A MeSH term may not have been assigned to articles, despite the fact that they are related to the topic.
  • Using only MeSH in PubMed will retrieve the articles indexed in MEDLINE only.
disease [MeSH] OR disease [All fields]

 

3. MeSH will not help if the topic is new or rare. MeSH will help if the topic is complicated or broad/large.

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