2024 MeSH Update and PubMed Year-End Activities

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Tis the season…for the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) Annual MeSH Processing for 2024!!

Every November-December brings the much anticipated annual changes to PubMed’s MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) structure for the controlled vocabulary associated with MEDLINE.

Types of MeSH Updates

Some MeSH, subheadings, and supplementary concepts cease to be, some are renamed, new MeSH and subheadings are incorporated, and some MeSH change their location in the MeSH hierarchical tree structure (e.g. a MeSH moves under a different broader heading) or combine with other terms. Some Supplemental Concepts are also upgraded to a MeSH Descriptor status. Below are some of the types of changes and updates made during the Annual MeSH Update.

  • New MeSH Descriptors — brand new MeSH Descriptors
  • New Supplementary Concepts — brand new terms that currently do not warrant a full MeSH Descriptor
  • Changed MeSH Descriptors — MeSH terms that were modified (either by name or hierarchical location), also referred to as the “Preferred Term”
  • Upgraded MeSH Descriptors — terms that moved from Supplementary Concepts to MeSH Descriptors
  • Combined Terms — either MeSH Descriptors or Supplementary Concepts that were combined with other terms under a single term
  • Split Terms — either MeSH Descriptors or Supplementary Concepts that are split to expand the level of description and detail
  • Removed Terms — either MeSH Descriptors or Supplementary Concepts that were removed, either due to being combined, upgraded, or renamed

What’s New in 2024

The 2024 MeSH updates includes a variety of important and much-needed updates!

One of the biggest and most needed expansion in the 2024 update is that of the Psychological Stress concept, with dozens of new MesH Descriptors within the concept of Psychological Stress, including:

  • Coping Skills
  • Psychological Growth
  • Financial Strain
  • Psychological Recovery
  • School Shooting
  • Stress Experience

Impacts on Searching PubMed

MeSH structure changes may affect already saved searches, including My NCBI alerts; for example ceased in 2024 MeSH may be part of your search strategy designed/saved in the previous years and the deleted/ceased to be term will not retrieve any references.

If you have searches saved in your My NCBI account and/or you are getting PubMed e-mail alerts, or if you need to update your Systematic Review based on your previous search strategy, you may want to consult a Research Informationist to ensure your saved searches are not affected by the annual changes in the MeSH terminology. Don’t hesitate to ASK US!

A Note by the National Library of Medicine says: “Typically, NLM does not retroactively re-index MEDLINE citations with new MeSH heading concepts. Therefore, searching PubMed for a new MeSH term tagged with [mh] or [majr] effectively limits retrieval to citations indexed after the term was introduced. Searchers may consult the MeSH database to see the previous indexing terms most likely used for a particular concept before the new MeSH heading was introduced. For terms without previous indexing information, consider the next broader term(s) in the MeSH hierarchy. For more searching guidance, see the on-demand class MeSH Changes and PubMed Searching”.

Five Year-End Ways to Supercharge Your Academic Productivity in 2024

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As end of the year approaches, now is a great time to take care of some of the scholarly tasks that you may have been putting off and to plan for incorporating some new habits into your academic workflows.

Five tasks that can help you start off the new year on the right foot:

1) Set-Up Automated Alerts
The MSK Library provides access to a plethora of useful research tools, many of which give users the option to save their past searches and set-up automated alerts based on these (often referred to as current awareness alerts) that will continue to push out search results to them into the future. Many in the MSK community are aware of this functionality being offered by literature databases, like PubMed, but they may not realize that other types of alerts exist and may be useful for them to explore. Below are some selected examples that will be highlighted to demonstrate the breadth of possibilities:

  • Scholarly Literature Subject Search Alerts – Learn more
    Get an alert when a new article of your interest is added to PubMed.
  • Author Citation Alerts – Learn more
    Receive an email alert once your newly published paper is indexed in a database. Journal article generally appear in PubMed first, however, if you wish to track other types of publications, like meeting abstracts, consider using a tool like EMBASE.
  • Document Citation Alerts – Learn more
    Be informed whenever a new publication cites your work using Scopus.
  • Journal Table of Contents Alerts – Learn more
    Set-up a ClinicalKey electronic table of contents alert by clicking on the “Subscribe” button next to the journal titles of interest to you.
  • Clinical Evidence Alerts – Learn more
    Keep on top of the latest medical news, research and guidelines with resources like NEJM Journal Watch.
  • Grant Funding Opportunity Alerts – Learn more
    Save searches and track new grant funding opportunities using Pivot-RP.
  • MSK Library New Blog Post Alert – Learn more
    Receive the latest MSK Library blog posts via email.

2) Update Your Author Profiles and Academic CV
MSK researchers and scientists can visit their profile page in Synapse, the MSK Library produced database of MSK-authored works, to review the new works added to their profile page in 2023. Records from Synapse can be exported in the RIS or CSV formats, allowing citations to be easily transferred to a citation manger or spreadsheet for use in CV/resume updating. The ORCID@MSK application can then be used by MSK authors who wish to push their works from Synapse to their ORCID profile page. Once updated, ORCID profile records can then be used to update a researcher’s SciENcv.

3) Ensure Your Publications Comply with the NIH Public Access Policy
As you update your CV, take note of whether you have any citations that have not yet been assigned a PMCID# but need to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. See the MSK Library’s NIH Public Access Policy LibGuide for assistance and to learn more.

4) Explore 2024 Conference Dates & Abstract Submission Deadlines
PubsHub is a tool that many are familiar with as a good resource for identifying good journal contenders to submit a manuscript to. In addition to its Journals module, however, this tool also includes a scientific Congresses module, where users can find out about upcoming meetings and conferences. Included is information that is useful for planning like abstract submission deadlines, location, and dates of the event, and search results can be filtered by type of attendee, whether CME/CE credit opportunities are offered at the event, etc.

5) Identify CME Opportunities/Create a Continuing Education Credit Plan
Several of the library’s resources, particularly the Evidence Based Point of Care/Clinical Decision Support tools, allow MSK users to earn CME points/credits if they register for a personal account.

Best wishes to all for a joyous and peaceful holiday season and New Year 2024!

Questions? Ask Us at the MSK Library.

Holiday Greetings & Metrics from the MSK Library

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The end of year is rapidly approaching and the MSK Library team has been very busy supporting and collaborating with our user community. To gain a sense of what we’ve been up to this year, take a moment to explore our new Library Dashboard, with a fresh look and feel, outlining the team’s activities via metrics. The information presented represents a snapshot of the work we do.

These metrics focus on a variety of services and resources such as:
1. literature search and document delivery requests; 
2. class attendance;
3. content usage for our digital journal and book collections;
4. website traffic;
5. our new FAQs section, designed to help users find quick answers to our most popular client questions;
6. Synapse and the increasing number of MSK authors and their publications;
7. research data management and how we are tracking the MSK Data Catalog views, where MSK researchers are depositing their data sets, and the growing interest in data management plans;
8. our quarterly virtual event, Advancing Authorship Series;
9.  and the SKOAP Fund request submissions we are tracking for authors who need financial support for article processing charges.

We also continued to promote our in-person and Virtual Library Services in support of incoming client requests and encouraged our user community to use our chat feature on the library website as a way to obtain immediate help. 

However you celebrate, I hope you find moments of joy and happiness this holiday season to lift your spirit and restore your energy for 2024. Wishing a very Happy New Year to all!

Cheers,
Donna Gibson
Director, Library Services