Tip #33: Catalog-only MeSH Terms

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I was recently digging through some MeSH terms while trying to find a paper about statistics and prevalence in PubMed. I found the following MeSH term: "Statistics" [Publication Type]

...but when I tried to include it in my search string, my results were flagged with a "Quoted phrase not found in phrase index: Statistics" error message:



Ryan Cohen, MLIS, Customer Service Librarian, Contractor for the National Library of Medicine, NIH responded to my confused Tweet with some very helpful information about this type of MeSH term. Thanks, Ryan!

MeSH terms/publication types are used for both cataloging records in the NLM Catalog/LocatorPlus and for indexing the citations of articles in MEDLINE.

There are some MeSH terms/publication types that are only used for cataloging and/or indexing. The statistics MeSH publication type term is only used for cataloging records in the NLM Catalog/LocatorPlus.

See the annotation on the MeSH browser record:

Statistics MeSH Descriptor Data2023: https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?name=Statistics

"INDEXER: Do not use; CATALOGER: Use when 20% or more of the content consists of statistical data. INDEXER: Do not use; CATALOGER: Use when 20% or more of the content consists of statistical data."

Another example:

The Academic Dissertation MeSH publication type term is only used for cataloging records in the NLM Catalog/LocatorPlus:

See the annotation on the MeSH browser record:

Academic Disseration MeSH Descriptor Data 2023: https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D019478

“INDEXER: Do not use; CATALOGER: Used by collaborating partners and for historical material only”

There are some descriptors that are used for cataloging and other indexing but there is not one unified list of all MeSH that are only used for cataloging in the NLM Catalog/LocatorPlus and only used for citations indexed for MEDLINE. These are some more examples showing Cataloging use the Name Authority. version.
Likewise some descriptors may be broader than usual for the specificity of indexing:
You may also wish to refer to some NLM tutorials which refers to information about the use of MeSH for only cataloging and only indexing, such as:

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