Medical Subject Headings

controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences
Place thesaurus Q199897
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Medical Subject Headings is a thesaurus[1] that plays a role in organizing medical information. Established in 1960[2], it has been in use for several decades.

As a thesaurus[1], Medical Subject Headings provides a controlled vocabulary for indexing and retrieving medical literature.

Medical Subject Headings was established in 1960[2], marking the beginning of its application in the field of medicine.

It continues to serve as a thesaurus[1] established in 1960[2].

Medical Subject Headings

Summary

Medical Subject Headings is a thesaurus[1]. It draws 326 Wikipedia views per month (thesaurus category, ranking #1 of 8).[2]

Key Facts

  • Medical Subject Headings authored United States National Library of Medicine[3].
  • Medical Subject Headings's instance of is recorded as thesaurus[4].
  • Medical Subject Headings's instance of is recorded as medical database[5].
  • Medical Subject Headings's instance of is recorded as controlled vocabulary[6].
  • Medical Subject Headings's logo image is recorded as Medical Subject Headings logo.png[7].
  • Medical Subject Headings's VIAF cluster ID is recorded as 305937419[8].
  • Medical Subject Headings's Library of Congress authority ID is recorded as n2013188677[9].
  • Medical Subject Headings's Commons category is recorded as Medical Subject Headings[10].
  • Medical Subject Headings's language of work or name is recorded as English[11].
  • Medical Subject Headings's MeSH descriptor ID is recorded as D046650[12].
  • Medical Subject Headings's country of origin is recorded as United States[13].
  • +1960-00-00T00:00:00Z marks the founding of Medical Subject Headings[14].
  • Medical Subject Headings's Freebase ID is recorded as /m/03f7mv9[15].
  • Medical Subject Headings's MeSH tree code is recorded as L01.462.750.245.945.700.500[16].
  • Medical Subject Headings's official website is recorded as https://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html[17].
  • Medical Subject Headings's topic's main category is recorded as Category:Medical Subject Headings[18].
  • Medical Subject Headings's main subject is recorded as medicine[19].
  • Medical Subject Headings's National Library of Israel ID is recorded as 004439754[20].
  • Medical Subject Headings's legal citation of this text is recorded as pmid = 13982385[21].
  • Medical Subject Headings's Dewey Decimal Classification is recorded as 610[22].
  • Medical Subject Headings's described by source is recorded as Q109302681[23].
  • Medical Subject Headings's title is recorded as {'lang': 'en', 'text': 'Medical Subject Headings'}[24].
  • Medical Subject Headings's main Wikidata property is recorded as P486[25].
  • Medical Subject Headings's main Wikidata property is recorded as P672[26].
  • Medical Subject Headings's main Wikidata property is recorded as P6680[27].

Body

Designation and Status

Recorded instance of include thesaurus[4], medical database[5], and controlled vocabulary[6].

History and Context

+1960-00-00T00:00:00Z marks the founding of Medical Subject Headings[14].

Why It Matters

Medical Subject Headings draws 326 Wikipedia views per month (thesaurus category, ranking #1 of 8).[2] It has Wikipedia articles in 29 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[28] It is known by 49 alternative names across languages and contexts.[29]

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [4] . Basic Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  2. [5] . wikidata.org.
  3. [6] . wikidata.org.
  4. [3] . Basic Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  5. [7] . wikidata.org.
  6. [8] . Virtual International Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  7. [9] . Library of Congress Name Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  8. [10] . wikidata.org.
  9. [11] . wikidata.org.
  10. [12] . wikidata.org.
  11. [13] . Basic Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  12. [14] . nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved . nlm.nih.gov. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  13. [15] . Freebase Data Dumps. wikidata.org.
  14. [16] . wikidata.org.
  15. [17] . wikidata.org.
  16. [18] . wikidata.org.
  17. [19] . wikidata.org.
  18. [20] . wikidata.org.
  19. [21] . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] . Basic Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] . Basic Register of Thesauri, Ontologies & Classifications. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  23. [25] . wikidata.org.
  24. [26] . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] . wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

  1. [1] . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [28] . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [29] . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Medical Subject Headings. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/medical-subject-headings
MLA “Medical Subject Headings.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 3 May. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/medical-subject-headings.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_medical-subject-headings_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Medical Subject Headings}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/medical-subject-headings}, note = {Accessed: 2026-05-03}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Medical Subject Headings — https://4ort.xyz/entity/medical-subject-headings (retrieved 2026-05-03)

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