NLM® Classification 2008 Edition Now Available
t he NLM Classification, available online at //wwwcf.nlm.nih.gov/class/, incorporates all additions and changes to the schedules and index from April 2007 through March 2008. The PDF version will be updated with 2008 classification data by April 30, 2008.
The WA (Public Health) and WB (Practice of Medicine) schedules were the major areas of focus for the 2008 edition, along with Table G.
Some WA and WB class numbers were revised to better reflect the scope of the number. For example:
- At WA 275, the caption Traffic accidents. Public health aspects of automobile driving was changed to Traffic accidents. Public health aspects of driving.
- At WA 105, the following note was added: Classify works on the specialty and on the specialty methods here. Classify works on epidemiologic methods alone in WA 950.
- Table G additions are now permitted with more WA classification numbers.
Class Numbers Added — 2008
New Number |
Class Name |
Former Number |
QT Physiology
|
||
| QT 260.5.V6 | Volleyball | None |
WA Public Health
|
||
| WA 115 | Immunization | WA 110 |
| WA 300.1 | General coverage (Not Table G) [Health issues of special population groups] | None |
| WA 305.1 | General coverage (Not Table G) [Mental health of special population groups] | None |
| WA 306 | Men's health | None |
| WA 309.1 | General coverage (Not Table G) [Women's health] | None |
| WA 310.1 | General coverage (Not Table G) [Maternal welfare. Maternal and child welfare. Maternal health services] | None |
| WA 325 | Child abuse | WA 320 |
WB Practice of Medicine |
||
| WB 55 | Traditional medicine (General or not elsewhere classified | WB 50 |
| WB 55.A3 | African traditional medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.A7 | Arabic traditional medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.A9 | Ayurvedic medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.C4 | Chinese traditional medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.F3 | Far East traditional medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.K3 | Kampo medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.K6 | Korean traditional medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.T5 | Tibetan traditional medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 55.U5 | Unani medicine | WB 50 |
| WB 65 | Euthanasia. Assisted suicide | WB 60 |
| WB 102.5 | Evidence-based medicine | WB 102 |
| WB 543 | Breathing exercises | WB 541 |
WD Disorders of Systemic, Metabolic or Environmental Origin, etc. |
||
| WD 380 | Systemic lupus erythematosus | WR152 |
WM Psychiatry |
||
| WM 167 | Psychological aspects of crime victims | WM 165 |
WO Surgery |
||
| WO 515 | Regenerative medicine | None |
WZ History of Medicine |
||
| WZ 112.5.A6 | Anatomists | None |
| WZ 112.5.G4 | Geneticists | None |
No class numbers were canceled in 2008.
Table G (Geographic Notations)
The following Table G numbers were added.
III. UNITED STATES (as geographical area) |
|
| AN95 | Northwestern United States |
| AP1 | Pacific States |
IV. AMERICAS |
|
| DA6 | Antigua |
| DA95 | Atlantic Islands |
| DD5 | Dominica |
| DG1 | Greenland |
| DG45 | Guadeloupe |
| DS1 | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| DS12 | Saint Lucia |
| DS15 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
VI. EUROPE |
|
| GS2 | San Marino |
| GT7 | Transcaucasia |
| GV2 | Vatican City |
VII. AFRICA |
|
| HA25 | Southern Africa |
| HB7 | Burkina Faso |
VIII. MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA |
|
| JA12 | Central Asia |
| JA14 | Far East |
| JA25 | Southeastern Asia |
| JA26 | Western Asia |
| JB5 | Bhutan |
| JB8 | Burma |
| JO6 | Oman |
IX. AUSTRALASIA |
|
| KA1 | Australasia |
X. ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC AND INDIAN OCEANS |
|
| LA3 | Oceania |
| LA5 | American Samoa |
| LG3 | Guam |
| LI2 | Independent State of Samoa |
| LM5 | Melanesia |
| LP1 | Palau |
| LS2 | Samoa |
| LT6 | Tonga |
XI. INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES |
|
| ME8 | European Union |
The following Table G numbers were made obsolete.
OBSOLETE NOTATION |
GEOGRAPHIC NAME |
NEW NOTATION |
EUROPE
|
||
| GC8 | Czechoslovakia | None |
| GY8 | Yugoslavia | None |
MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA
|
||
| JA7 | Arabia | None |
| JM9 | Myanmar | JB8 |
Other Changes to the Schedule
Class number captions were also revised in other schedules. For example:
- At QV 748, ‘Dosage calculations’ was added to the caption.
- At WO 511, ‘Laser surgery’ was changed to ‘Laser therapy’.
Instructional notes were added or modified to clarify classification practices as needed, e.g., a note was modified at WZ 290 to clarify the types of works to be classified there.
Changes to the Index
Seventy-one new index entries were created of which forty-one are from the 2008 MeSH; the remainder are MeSH terms from previous years. Numerous main index entries and cross references were modified to reflect changes in the MeSH vocabulary. In particular, some major categories of index terms affected by MeSH changes were:
Publication types, e.g.,
Biography [Publication Type] to Biography
Topical terms that duplicate publication types, e.g.,
Biography changed to Biography as Topic
All index entries pertaining to the aforementioned schedule additions and changes were modified.
To learn more about the NLM Classification see the Fact Sheet.
Willis SR. NLM Classification 2008 Edition Now Available. NLM Tech Bull. 2008 Mar-Apr;(361):e17.
