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Keywords can be an important element of an effective patent search strategy (for more, check out this presentation [PDF, 1.09MB]) But a major challenge in using keywords is that so many ways exist to describe a particular technical feature to be included in your search. How can you find these synonyms and variants to add them to your search?
Here are some of my favorite free resources for identifying synonyms and variants for technical terms. Which resources do you use?
General
WIPO: PATENTSCOPE CLIR
EU: InterActive Terminology for Europe
EU: Eurovoc
Union Latine: Terminometro
CILF: Base de terminologie (Terminology Database)
Wikipedia (try finding a term in one language and then switching to another language version!)
Medicine
NIH NLM: MeSH Browser
CiSMeF: Portail Terminologique de Santé (Medical Terminology Portal)
ATS: Medical Dictionary and Glossary Online
André Fairchild: Online Medical and Biomedical Dictionaries & Glossaries
Engineering
ITU: Termite
IEC: Electropedia
DTIC: Thesaurus
NASA: STI Tools
Agriculture and food
FAO: FAOTERM