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Human, Animal, and Molecular Cellular Scores

Updated

 

Overview

Score Calculation

MeSH Categorizations

Overview

Human, Animal, and Molecular/Cellular Biology scores, shown in the Translation module of iCite, and utilized across other OPA iTools, are calculated for each article using Medical Subject Heading terms assigned by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). These represent the content focus of the paper along these dimensions. For example, more human-focused papers have higher Human scores, while cell biology-focused papers will have higher Molecular/Cellular Biology scores.

Score Calculation

The methodology used to calculate these scores is based on Griffin Weber’s publication ‘Identifying translational science within the triangle of biomedicine’ (Weber, J Trans Med 11:126 (2013)). Shown below is Weber’s idea that papers in PubMed tagged with certain MeSH terms could be organized into a tree then rolled up into 3 categories: human, animal or molecular/cellular. You can input MeSH terms into the MeSH tree here to see if/where they fall in the structure/category.

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The Office of Portfolio Analysis (OPA) adapted this approach to count fractions of terms. See more about this methodology in OPA’s publication, ‘Predicting translational progress in biomedical research’ (Hutchins BI, Davis MT, Meseroll RA, Santangelo GM (2019). PLOS Biology 17(10): e3000416. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000416).

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MeSH Categorizations

For more information on the specific branches of the MeSH tree that qualify as human, animal, and molecular/cellular, see the sections below.

Definitions for these three categories have been described in two papers (here and here). Note that due to annual updates to the MeSH tree, current definitions may not align perfectly with the MeSH addresses described in the papers, which used MeSH trees from specific fiscal years.

Human

  • M01 (Persons)
  • B01.050.150.900.649.313.988.400.112.400.400 (Human)

Animal

  • B01 (Eukaryota) not B01.050.150.900.649.313.988.400.112.400.400 (Human)
  • To see a physical representation of the MeSH tree structure, and more details on this MeSH heading, view the National Library of Medicine MeSH site: https://meshb-prev.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?ui=D056890 

Molecular/Cellular Biology

  • A11 (Cells)
  • B02 (Archaea)
  • B03 (Bacteria)
  • B04 (Viruses)
  • G02 (Chemical Phenomena)
  • G04 (Cell Physiological Phenomena)
    • View the specific branches of the MeSH Tree to see all of the qualifying terms

 

Other categorizations used in iTools

Diseases

  • C (Diseases) not C22 (Animal Diseases)
    • View the specific branches of the MeSH Tree to see all of the qualifying terms

Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques

  • E (Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques, and Equipment) not E07 (Equipment and Supplies)
    • View the specific branches of the MeSH Tree to see all of the qualifying terms

Chemicals and Drugs

  • D (Chemicals and Drugs)
    • View the specific branches of the MeSH Tree to see all of the qualifying terms

 

Visual representation of the MeSH Tree and its main branches:

MeSH Tree.PNG

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