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Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®) Web Site Changes

Kleinsorge R. Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®) Web Site Changes. NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Sep-Oct;(370):e15.

September 24, 2009 [posted]

UMLS Web Site Changes

NLM® reorganized the UMLS Web site (see Figure 1). Information is now divided into four categories:

  • New Users (1) — basic information for users who have little or no experience with UMLS; includes information about getting a UMLS License;
  • User Education (2) — UMLS Webcasts, Quick Tours, and links to papers and presentations about the UMLS;
  • Knowledge Sources (3) — information about the three UMLS Knowledge Sources, including relevant chapters of the new UMLS Reference Manual and Fact Sheets and;
  • Implementation Resources (4) — technical information such as Database Query Diagrams and Database Load Scripts for application development; includes information about MetamorphoSys and the Rich Release Format Browser.

The new UMLS Web site homepage also includes a list of "Quick Links" to popular UMLS Web pages. Other links on the homepage include UMLS News, Downloads, Metathesaurus License Agreement, and the UMLS Reference Manual.

Screen capture of Reorganized UMLS homepage.
Figure 1: Reorganized UMLS homepage.

UMLS Reference Manual
As part of the UMLS Web site reorganization, NLM rewrote the UMLS Release Documentation as the UMLS Reference Manual, a new book on the NCBI Bookshelf. Information specific to a UMLS Release, such as sources included in the current version of the Metathesaurus and statistics regarding the number of concepts, remains on the UMLS Web site while general reference information now resides on the Bookshelf. This change allows users to search the general reference information directly within the manual itself. The UMLS Reference Manual has been formatted to increase readability and each chapter can be printed as a PDF file.

UMLS Webcast

The reorganized pages were discussed in the UMLS Webcast, "UMLS Web Site Changes." The archived Webcast is available on the UMLS Webcasts page.