1 2019 MeSH Survey

Thank you for visiting the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings MeSH and MeSH RDF
Usage. Please help us by taking this quick survey about your overall experience with these products.

OMB Control Number: 0925-0648
Expiration Date: 05/31/2021
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 4 minutes per response,
including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining
the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct
or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a
current valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of
this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to NIH, Project Clearance
Branch, 6705 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7974, Bethesda, MD 20892-7974, ATTN: PRA (0925-0648). Do not
return the completed form to this address.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Q1 Do you access Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) data using the following methods? Please
answer "yes" or "no" for each method.
Yes
Download MeSH files (ASCII, MARC, RDF, XML) from the NLM ftp site

Download MeSH data using E-Utilities (the NLM API)

Query the MeSH RDF Lookup Service at id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/lookup

Query the MeSH RDF SPARQL endpoint at id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/query

Search the MeSH Browser at meshb.nlm.nih.gov/search

Search the NCBI MeSH Database at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh

Use MeSH data from the UMLS (Unified Medical Language System)

Other – access via a third party (please specify)

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

No

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Q1a You responded that you download the MeSH files from the ftp site. Which data types and data
formats do you download? Please answer "yes" or "no" for each data type and data format.
Yes
ASCII
MARC
RDF
XML

o
o
o
o

No

o
o
o
o

Q1b You responded that you download the MeSH RDF files from the ftp site. How often do you
download updated MeSH RDF data from the ftp site?

o
o
o
o
o
o

Every day
Every week
Every month
Once per year
Never
Other (please specify) ________________________________________________

Q2 You responded that you access MeSH RDF data. Are you using MeSH RDF data in conjunction
with other RDF datasets?

o
o

No
Yes (please specify) ________________________________________________

Q2a You responded that you access MeSH RDF data. Please rate each statement below.
Strongly
Disagree
The MeSH RDF data model fits my
needs.
I have sufficient resources, tools, and
technology to use MeSH RDF (for
example a database that can store
triples).
Documentation is sufficient for my
needs.
Implementation is easy.
MeSH RDF architecture and syntax
are easy to understand.
MeSH RDF data is interoperable with
other data sets.
There are enough RDF data sets to
link with MeSH RDF.

Somewhat
Disagree

Neither
Agree nor
Disagree

Somewhat
Agree

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o

Q3 You responded that you are using are not using MeSH RDF data.
Please rate your level of awareness of MeSH RDF.
Very Unaware

o

Somewhat
Unaware

o

Strongly
Agree

Neither
Aware nor
Unaware

o

Somewhat
Aware

o

Very Aware

o

Q3a You responded that you are not using MeSH RDF data.
Please rate your level of interest in using MeSH RDF data in the future.
Very
Uninterested

Somewhat
Uninterested

o

o

Neither Interested
nor Uninterested

Somewhat
Interested

o

Very
Interested

o

o

Q3b You responded that you are interested in using MeSH RDF data in the future.
What would help you begin using MeSH RDF? Please rate these options.
Very
Unhelpful
Changes to the MeSH RDF data
model
More documentation
Training and skill development in
MeSH RDF architecture and syntax
A software development kit from NLM
Additional internal resources, tools,
and technology (for example, a
database that can store triples)
Changes to MeSH RDF data to make
it more interoperable with other data
sets
More data sets in RDF format
Other (please specify)

Somewhat
Unhelpful

Neither
Helpful nor
Unhelpful

Somewhat
Helpful

Very
Helpful

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o

o

o

o

o

o

o
o
o

o
o
o

o
o
o

o
o
o

o
o
o

Q4 For what purpose(s) are you using MeSH data? Please answer "yes" or "no" to all the
purposes listed below.
Yes
Assign keywords to biomedical literature or bibliographic records
Build related terminologies or classification systems
Build medical knowledge management systems (such as electronic health records
systems)
Redistribute MeSH data within information retrieval systems (such as commercially
available systems)
Develop mapping of MeSH data to other terminologies
Find terms to build searches in information retrieval systems (for example, search
PubMed)
Conduct text or data mining research
Find or define relationships between specific biological entities or phenomena
Other (please specify)

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

No

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Q4a Which of the following attributes of MeSH do you use in your
work? Please answer "yes", "no" , or "not sure" for each attribute
below.

Yes

Subheadings (e.g., /adverse effects, /genetics)
Study participant descriptors (“check tags”, e.g. male, female, human,
pregnancy, etc.)
Substances (chemicals like proteins and drugs; including both MeSH
descriptor terms and supplementary concepts
Publication Formats (e.g., letter, review, editorial)
Study Characteristics (e.g., clinical trial, case report, twin study)
Support of Research (e.g., Research Support, U.S. Government)

o
o
o
o
o
o

No

o
o
o
o
o
o

Q5 Do you provide an application, tool, or system that utilizes MeSH data?

o
o

No
Yes

Q5a Please describe your application, tool, or system that utilizes MeSH data.

o
o
o
o
o

What is its name? ________________________________________________
If available, please provide a URL. __________________________________________
Who uses it? ________________________________________________
How does it use MeSH data? ______________________________________________
What value does MeSH data add? __________________________________________

Q6 For what type of organization are you doing this work?

o
o
o

Academic institution
Biotechnology company
Database publisher or vendor

Not
Sure

o
o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Government
Pharmaceutical company
Marketing research company
Software development company
Not-for-profit
Individual
Other (please specify) ________________________________________________

Q7 Please provide any additional feedback for MeSH data and products.
________________________________________________________________
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