The Disregard for the Use of Standardized Keywords in Turkish Medical Publishing

Abstract

In Turkey, many medical academic journals require keywords to comply with "MeSH"(Medical Subject Headings) among their writing guidelines. However, there is currently no program or shortcut available to check the compatibility of Turkish language keywords or their English equivalents with MeSH. The purpose of this study is to determine and report the extent to which keywords used in the articles we examine are equivalent in MeSH. This study was conducted within the “DergiPark” system, which significantly supports national academic publishing. The scanning was completed between September and December 2023 by two researchers. The research focused on publications between January 1, 2022, and December 31,2022, encompassing a total of 43 journals and 1743 articles. Selection criteria for journals included a minimum of 3 years of academic publishing, issuance of at least 3 editions in 2022, printing of a minimum of 4 original articles per issue, and having English abstracts and keywords. Only those adhering to eligibility criteria in the scanned journals and publications were included in the study. Three types of articles were examined: original articles, case report, and review. The study found that 376 of the 1743 articles were 100% compatible with MeSH. In Turkish articles, it was found that there was a higher MeSH compliance compared to English articles. As a result, the research reveals the fact that the keywords of many articles do not comply with the MeSH terms. The study emphasizes the possible consequences of disregarding MeSH indexing rules.