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Structured Abstracts in MEDLINE: Newly Identified and Mapped Labels Available

Knecht LS, Ripple AM. Structured Abstracts in MEDLINE: Newly Identified and Mapped Labels Available. NLM Tech Bull. 2012 Sep-Oct;(388):e3.

September 20, 2012 [posted]

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has updated its list of structured abstract labels. This updated list, along with the NLM-assigned broader category mappings, can be downloaded for free from the Structured Abstracts resource page which also provides NLM guidelines and other background information to assist licensees or researchers.

The Updated Label List and NLM Category Mappings file contains 1,949 labels: 1,645 labels (from the 2011 Label List) and 304 new labels. Each label has a corresponding broader NLM Category map, and an indication of whether the label is classed as an "Ending Label" concept. The new 304 label entries have a timestamp of "|20120831".

Other changes related to the release of the newly updated file of structured abstract labels include:


  • Revision of completed MEDLINE (medline [sb]) and PubMed-not-MEDLINE (pubmednotmedline [sb]) status citations in PubMed that contain one or more of the 304 newly verified and mapped labels to reflect the new labels, effective on or about September 11, 2012.
  • Revision of PubMed citations that are in "as supplied by publisher" status (publisher [sb]), effective September 12, 2012.

Read more about Structured Abstracts in PubMed.