Evaluation of the Conformity of Nursing and Midwifery Thesis Keywords of Tehran University of Medical Sciences with Medical Subject Headings of MeSH Thesaurus

Considering the importance of using indexing instruments such as MeSH medical subject headings in storing and retrieving medical science information, the present study aimed to determine the degree of consistency of English keywords in nursing and midwifery dissertations of Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti universities of Medical Sciences. Was performed with MeSH subject headings.

This research has been conducted by comparative and library survey method. Data collection tool is a checklist prepared by the researcher. The dissertations of two masterchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s and doctoral degrees were conducted by census method from three universities of medical sciences in Tehran, Iran and Shahid Beheshti in Tehran over a period of 5 years (2016-2017). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20 and descriptive statistics. A total of 4283 keywords were extracted and compared with MeSH subject headings. They were divided into three groups: complete consonant, relative consonant and inconsistent.

During the years under study, 38.5% of the words were in complete agreement with the MeSH subject headings, 42.1% were inconsistent and 19.4% were partially in agreement with MeSH.

Research findings showed that students and researchers need to be more careful in choosing their keywords, which requires training and sensitization in choosing the right keyword.