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New MeSH Terms for 2021!

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!

Well, perhaps that’s a bit of an over-exaggeration, but it’s exciting nonetheless! The National Library of Medicine has released its annual list of MeSH changes, including highly anticipated NEW MeSH (Medical Subject Heading) terms for 2021!

The list covers a variety of changes and updates made to MeSH, including:

  • Updated terms — these are MeSH terms that have been deleted, changed, or replaced to reflect more updated terminology
    • 14 terms were updated for 2021
  • New terms — these are brand new MeSH terms added
    • 277 terms were added for 2021
  • Special projects — new terms added in specific subject areas to address needs
    • New behavioral and social science headings
    • New cardiovascular headings
    • New food/beverage headings
    • New infection headings
    • New organism headings
    • New persons headings

One important thing to remember is how to modify saved searches to account for the changes made to MeSH, as the changes will take place in mid-December 2020 and newly indexed citations will be reflective of these changes.

COVID-19 and its impact on MeSH

It makes sense that COVID-19 has been the cause of many of the changes going into 2021. From the onset of the pandemic, NLM was adding supplementary concepts (SCRs) throughout the year to include important concepts to help navigate the large amount of COVID-19 literature, but these supplementary concepts have limited functionality. So with 2021, NLM has announced an entire suite of COVID-19 and SARS-Cov2 related MeSH terms.

Some notable new terms related to the pandemic:

medRxiv – Preprint Server for Health Sciences

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First launched only about a year and a half ago in June 2019, preprint server medRxiv has enjoyed a super-sharp uptick in the number of manuscripts posted since February 2020, largely due to COVID-19 related submissions. medRxiv is not a journal publication or journal publisher – rather it is a preprint server or outlet for “the distribution of preprints that are complete but unpublished manuscripts describing health research”.

The pandemic has certainly put preprints on the fast-track to acceptance by the clinical research community, despite the fact that they are “preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review”. As part of their COVID-19 response, the National Library of Medicine took the lead among database service providers and made the rather significant decision to index COVID-19 related preprints from specific preprint servers in PubMed, thereby enhancing their discoverability (and potential citations in new research) further.

That said – the debate about the benefits/challenges of preprints in the health sciences is still ongoing. However, it is becoming clear that preprints can no longer be ignored.

For a nice overview of where things stand with medRxiv (and other preprint servers) and where they may headed, be sure to check out the November 10, 2020 issue of JAMA, which includes these noteworthy papers:

Krumholz HM, Bloom T, Sever R, Rawlinson C, Inglis JR, Ross JS. Submissions and Downloads of Preprints in the First Year of medRxiv. JAMA. 2020;324(18):1903–1905. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17529 

Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, Bauchner H. Preprints Involving Medical Research—Do the Benefits Outweigh the Challenges? JAMA. 2020;324(18):1840–1843. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.20674

Malički M, Jerončić A, ter Riet G, et al. Preprint Servers’ Policies, Submission Requirements, and Transparency in Reporting and Research Integrity Recommendations. JAMA. 2020;324(18):1901–1903. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17195 

For more information on preprints – be sure to Ask Us at the MSK Library! 

New eBook – Health Equity and Nursing: Achieving Equity Through Policy, Population Health, and Interprofessional Collaboration

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The Library has added a new title to our collection, entitled Health Equity and Nursing: Achieving Equity Through Policy, Population Health, and Interprofessional Collaboration. This text focuses on how nurses can improve the health of all populations they serve, the significance of interprofessional collaboration, and the economic, environmental, personal, social, and structural factors that impact health status and outcomes.

Along with principles, pathways, and imperatives pertinent to achieving health equity, this book “discusses the evolution of thinking from eliminating health disparities to achieving health equity, and examines population-based and population-specific inequities in health status and outcomes.”