Skip Navigation Bar

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

  • 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

Learn About MeSH

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