What are the differences
This document addresses the
following questions:
•
What are the differences between Emtree and MeSH?•
How important are these differences to (potential) customers?•
Why would customers choose Emtree instead of MeSH?What do Emtree and MeSH have
in common?
•
Both are comprehensive biomedical / life science terminologies•
Similar facet structure (Emtree was modeled on MeSH in 1988)•
Both thesauri have broader/narrower terms and synonyms•
Both have major annual updates with hundreds of new terms•
Both are linked to CAS registry numbers and Enzyme Commission (EC) numbersEmtree
MeSH
Emtree
benefits
for users
“Natural language terminology” (e.g. myeloid leukemia)
Has many “inverted terms” (e.g. leukemia, myeloid)
Intuitive and recognisable terms for ease of use
More than 270,000 synonyms (incl. over 175,000 drug synonyms)
Fewer synonyms (“entry terms”) than in Emtree
High probability that terms searched by users are in Emtree Includes all MeSH terms (many as
Emtree synonyms)
Emtree is easy for MeSH users to search
Relies upon “meaning” invested in terms by authors using them
Has many scope notes to describe how terms are used
No dependence on or need to look up scope notes
Larger (over 60,000 preferred terms)
Smaller (ca. 26,000 preferred terms)
Best chance of finding both drug and non-drug terminology Extensive drugs facet (over
30,000 preferred terms)
More limited drugs facet (ca. 8,800 preferred terms)
Drugs terminology is more up-to-date
New drug terms are updated earlier in Emtree
Drug terms are only updated when they become established
Best results for new drugs Polyhierarchical structure with
duplicated trees
Polyhierarchical structure with differences between trees
Unambiguous and context-free explosion searches
All drug and chemical information Detailed drug information is in a All the drug information you
What are Emtree’s plus points and why are they important?
What plus points might users find
in MeSH?
•
MeSH has extensive history notes, which can be used to track earlier literature predating the introduction of particular terms.•
MeSH has extensive scope notes. However, these include restrictions in term usage which users need to be aware of, as well as term definitions•
MeSH has extensive terminology in nursing, veterinary medicine and dentistry (all of these terms are in Em tree, but many are synonyms).Why choose Emtree instead of MeSH?
•
Emtree terminology:• includes all of MeSH (i.e. all MeSH terms are mapped to Emtree).
• is readily extensible in response to user needs, subject to agreement with overall policy. • is optimally embedded into Elsevier’s platform (Embase.com)
•
In addition, Emtree drugs terminology is:• more extensive: with many synonyms (incl. many trade names) mapping to each drug term • up to date: with three updates each year, Emtree is especially suited for finding information on new drugs.
• polyhierarchic: each drug is accessible from multiple points of view (e.g. structure, activity, therapeutic use).
Drug Information Study
To illustrate the differences between Emtree and MeSH when searching for
(new) drugs, several drug searches were performed in Embase (indexed with
Emtree) and MEDLINE (indexed with MeSH).
Result: from 2-12 times more information is retrieved from Embase (see table).
Online study conducted on 26 July 2011, on Embase (www.embase.com) and MEDLINE (via PubMed).
1 Drugs were the top 10 leading products based on U.S. pharmaceutical sales
(source: Drug.com (http://www.drugs.com/top200.html)). Search period: literature publication years 2007 – July 2011.
Search method: each database was searched using the Emtree or MeSH preferred term as appropriate. Where MeSH lacked a preferred term, the NLM Supplementary Concept data were searched instead.
2 This MeSH term contains the Emtree term as a synonym (Emtree lists omeprazole as a different term) 3 Searched as Substance name from the NLM Supplementary Concept Data
4 Searched as MeSH preferred term
Product
name ¹
Search term
Citations
Emtree Preferred term MeSH Preferred termor Substance name Embase MEDLINE
Nexium esomeprazole omeprazole 2 2,092 1,003
Lipitor atorvastatin atorvastatin 3 9,452 1,597
Plavix clopidogrel clopidogrel3 15,342 2,446
Advair fluticasone propionate plus salmeterol fluticasone, salmeterol drug combination3 1,127 91
Oxycontin oxycodone oxycodone 4 3,547 373
Abilify aripiprazole aripiprazole 3 4,053 703
Singulair montelukast montelukast 3 2,314 399
Seroquel quetiapine quetiapine 3 6,254 696
Crestor rosuvastatin rosuvastatin 3 3,766 665
Cymbalta duloxetine duloxetine 3 3,099 457
