In the previous example, each word or phrase mapped to a MeSH term, but that does not always happen. If any of your search terms did not map to MeSH terms, rethink the word(s) that you used in your search. Also, if your topic is relatively new, there may not be any MeSH terms yet.

To help you revise your search strategy, skim your search results to look for a relevant article. For example, this article, Interventions for Managing Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw, may be a good source of MeSH terms. detail of PubMed search results with "Interventions " article highlighted.

On the article abstract page, scroll down the page or use the MeSH terms link on the right-hand menu to find the MeSH terms that have been applied to this article.

Article abstract page with MeSH highlighted on right.

In the list of MeSH terms, you'll notice that some are single words or phrases, but some have words after a forward slash. These are subheadings. For example, in "Bisphosphonate-Associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaw/therapy", Bisphosphonate-Associated Osteonecrosis of the Jaw is the MeSH term and therapy is the subheading.

List of MeSH terms for this article, with the sample term highlighted.

As a general rule, it’s best to ignore subheadings when creating your search strategies, because using the combination of a MeSH term and a subheading can focus your search too much. Another thing to notice is the asterisk, which indicates that the MeSH term or combination is a major focus of the article. Again, this is something to know, but not to use, so as not to focus your search too much.

Access the MeSH database

You can access the MeSH database by left-clicking on a MeSH term and selecting the Search in MeSH option from the menu that appears.

Dropdown menu with options to search, including Search in MeSH.