Descriptor/qualifier coordination
Coordination is a fundamental principle of MeSH indexing. By proper coordination of a limited number of MeSH headings and appropriate subheadings, the indexer can describe the entire content of any lengthy and complex article. In order to adequately index the content of an article, it is usually not enough to use a single MeSH term. In most cases, two or more MeSH terms are needed, and even more frequently, a MeSH heading/subheading combined with another MeSH heading with or without subheading are needed. Several MeSH heading / subheading combinations logically go together..
Not every qualifier can be attributed to any descriptor… For example, would it make sense to coordinate the descriptor ‘Manual Lymphatic Drainage’ with the qualifier ‘deficiency’? Would it make sense for an article’s subject to be the deficiency of lymphatic drainage? It wouldn’t! Therefore, for each subcategory of descriptors, a specific set of qualifiers is assigned. In DeCS and MeSH, this is the reason why ‘Allowed Qualifiers’ exist in the terminological records.
There are even those combinations that, because they are so frequent, are presented as pre-coordinations. Example: transplantation is not an allowed qualifier for the descriptor Liver because this coordination has already been previously arranged as the descriptor Liver Transplant.
For a more complete listing of allowed qualifiers for some descriptor subcategories, access the MeSH publication.
Adapted from: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/indexing/training/SUB_030.html
Category: DeCS tips
