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
|
|