Principles of Coordination

Principles of Coordination

Coordination is a fundamental principle of MeSH indexing. By proper coordination of a limited number of MeSH headings and appropriate subheadings, the indexer can describe the entire content of any lengthy and complex article. In order to adequately index the content of an article, it is usually not enough to use a single MeSH term. In most cases, two or more MeSH terms are needed, and even more frequently, a MeSH heading/subheading combined with another MeSH heading with or without subheading are needed. Several MeSH heading / subheading combinations logically go together. The indexer should become familiar with these common pairings and use them appropriately.

Here are examples of common coordinations.

If an article discusses treatment of a disease with a drug, correct indexing would be

DISEASE / * drug ther
DRUG / * ther use

Wrong indexing would be

DISEASE / * drug ther
DRUG / * metab

If an article discusses metabolism of a substance in an organ in a disease, correct indexing would be:

DISEASE / * metab
ORGAN / * metab
SUBSTANCE /* metab

Wrong indexing would be

DISEASE / * physiopathol
ORGAN / * pathol
SUBSTANCE /* metab

A listing of common coordinations appears below. See the Indexing Manual 19.11 for more information on coordinations.

DISEASE / chem ind
DRUG / adv eff 		DISEASE / ultrasonogr
ORGAN / ultrasonogr
DISEASE / diag
DRUG / diag use � 		DISEASE / radiogr
ORGAN / radiogr
DISEASE / pathol
ORGAN / pathol 		DISEASE / physiopathol
ORGAN / physiopathol �
RADIOISOTOPE / diag use
DISEASE / radionuclide
ORGAN / radionuclide
PHYSIOLOGIC PROCESS / drug eff
DRUG / pharmacol
ORGAN / drug eff
DRUG / pharmacol 		ORGANISM / metab
DRUG / metab
ORGANISM / drug eff
DRUG / pharmacol �		 ORGAN / metab
DISEASE / metab
ORGAN / metab
DRUG / metab or / pharmacokin 		RADIOISOTOPE / ther use
DISEASE / radiother
ORGAN / chem
CHEMICAL / anal 		DISEASE / drug ther
DRUG / ther use �
DISEASE / etiol
TECHNIQUE / adv eff		 ORGAN / surg
DISEASE / surg