A tool for sharing annotated research data: the "Category 0" UMLS (Unified Medical Language System) vocabularies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Large biomedical data sets have become increasingly important resources for medical researchers. Modern biomedical data sets are annotated with standard terms to describe the data and to support data linking between databases. The largest curated listing of biomedical terms is the the National Library of Medicine's Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). The UMLS contains more than 2 million biomedical terms collected from nearly 100 medical vocabularies. Many of the vocabularies contained in the UMLS carry restrictions on their use, making it impossible to share or distribute UMLS-annotated research data. However, a subset of the UMLS vocabularies, designated Category 0 by UMLS, can be used to annotate and share data sets without violating the UMLS License Agreement.

SUBMITTER: Berman JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC165595 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature