A Multilingual Browser Platform for Medical Subject Headings

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Informatics
• Medical Librarianship
• Information Science

Background:

• Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing articles in PubMed.
• Existing resources for MeSH include an XML export and a web-based browser with English terms.
• Partial translations of MeSH terms exist, with ZB-MED now responsible for German translations, but no unified multilingual platform is available.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the gap in multilingual MeSH access by developing a modern, searchable, multilingual MeSH browser.
• To provide a dedicated platform for users to search and browse MeSH terms across different languages.

Main Methods:

• Development of a modular platform utilizing open-source technology.
• Implementation of a frontend interface allowing users to search and browse terms.
• Integration of functionality to switch between different languages within the browser.

Main Results:

• A new multilingual MeSH browser has been created.
• The current version supports both English and German MeSH terms.
• The browser is accessible online at https://mesh-browser.de.

Conclusions:

• The developed MeSH browser fills a critical need for a unified, multilingual resource.
• The platform enhances access and searchability of MeSH terms for a broader international audience.
• Open-source technology facilitates a modern and adaptable solution for biomedical terminology access.