MeSH headings are Medical Subject Headings have been used since the 1800's as an international standard by numerous health organizations and medical libraries, including the McGill Health Sciences Library, to organize materials and index information. This dynamic thesaurus of some 19,000 main subject headings is continually updated by subject specialists in various areas. Each year hundreds of new concepts are added and modifications are made to the MeSH vocabulary. Mesh Headings are a controlled vocabulary to insure that all medical professionals use the same terms to define concepts or "speak the same language".

MeSH on the Web

The MeSH Browser ,at the National Library of Medicine, may be used to find MeSH main headings and/or subheadings of interest.