Unique eight-digit number used to identify a periodical publication

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Standard Serial Number</span>

International Standard Serial Number

<p>An <b>International Standard Serial Number</b> (<b>ISSN</b>) is an eight-digit <a href="/en/Serial_number" title="Serial number" class="wl">serial number</a> used to <a href="/en/Unique_identifier" title="Unique identifier" class="wl">uniquely identify</a> a <a href="/en/Serial_(publishing)" title="Serial (publishing)" class="wl">serial publication</a>, such as a magazine.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Whatis_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-Whatis-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-2"><a href="#cite_note-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Unique eight-digit number used to identify a periodical publication</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Acronym, Organisation, Introduced, No. issued...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title">International Standard Serial Number</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size mw-image-border"><a href="/en/File:Issn-barcode-explained.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Issn-barcode-explained.png"><img loading="lazy"alt="{{{image_alt}}}" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Issn-barcode-explained.png/200px-Issn-barcode-explained.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1399" data-file-height="900" data-file-type="bitmap" height="129" width="200" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Issn-barcode-explained.png/300px-Issn-barcode-explained.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Issn-barcode-explained.png/400px-Issn-barcode-explained.png 2x"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">an ISSN, 2049-3630, as represented by an <a href="/en/International_Article_Number_(EAN)" title="International Article Number (EAN)" class="mw-redirect wl">EAN-13 bar code</a>.</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;">Acronym</th><td class="infobox-data">ISSN</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;">Organisation</th><td class="infobox-data">ISSN International Centre</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;">Introduced</th><td class="infobox-data">1976<span class="noprint"><span>;</span><span> </span>47<span>&nbsp;</span>years ago</span><span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1976</span>)</span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;"><abbr about="#mwt13" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;<span typeof=\&quot;mw:Nowiki\&quot; data-parsoid=\&quot;{}\&quot;>Number</span>&quot;}]]}">No.</abbr> issued</th><td class="infobox-data">&gt; 2,500,000</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;"><abbr about="#mwt14" typeof="mw:ExpandedAttrs" data-mw="{&quot;attribs&quot;:[[{&quot;txt&quot;:&quot;title&quot;},{&quot;html&quot;:&quot;<span typeof=\&quot;mw:Nowiki\&quot; data-parsoid=\&quot;{}\&quot;>Number</span>&quot;}]]}">No.</abbr><span>&nbsp;</span>of<span>&nbsp;</span>digits</th><td class="infobox-data">8</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;"><a href="/en/Check_digit" title="Check digit" class="wl">Check digit</a></th><td class="infobox-data">Weighted sum</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;">Example</th><td class="infobox-data">2049-3630</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label" style="width:6.5em;">Website</th><td class="infobox-data"><span class="url"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.issn.org/" class="external text" target="_blank">www<wbr>.issn<wbr>.org</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Issn_barcode.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Issn_barcode.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Issn_barcode.png/220px-Issn_barcode.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="683" data-file-height="424" data-file-type="bitmap" height="137" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Issn_barcode.png/330px-Issn_barcode.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Issn_barcode.png/440px-Issn_barcode.png 2x" alt="Issn_barcode.png"></a><figcaption>ISSN encoded in an EAN-13 barcode with sequence variant 0 and issue number 05</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Issn-barcode-explained.png" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Issn-barcode-explained.png"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Issn-barcode-explained.png/220px-Issn-barcode-explained.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="1399" data-file-height="900" data-file-type="bitmap" height="142" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Issn-barcode-explained.png/330px-Issn-barcode-explained.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Issn-barcode-explained.png/440px-Issn-barcode-explained.png 2x" alt="Issn-barcode-explained.png"></a><figcaption>Example of an ISSN encoded in an EAN-13 barcode, with explanation.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="mw-default-size wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg/220px-ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="640" data-file-height="402" data-file-type="drawing" height="138" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg/330px-ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg/440px-ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg.png 2x" alt="ISSN_with_addon_EAN13.svg"></a><figcaption>ISSN expanded with sequence variant 0 to a <a href="/en/Global_Trade_Item_Number" title="Global Trade Item Number" class="wl">GTIN-13</a> and encoded in an <a href="/en/EAN-13" title="EAN-13" class="mw-redirect wl">EAN-13</a> barcode with an <a href="/en/EAN_2" title="EAN 2" class="mw-redirect wl">EAN-2</a> add-on designating issue number 13</figcaption></figure>
<p>The ISSN system was first drafted as an <a href="/en/International_Organization_for_Standardization" title="International Organization for Standardization" class="wl">International Organization for Standardization</a> (ISO) <a href="/en/International_standard" title="International standard" class="wl">international standard</a> in 1971 and published as ISO 3297 in 1975.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span> ISO subcommittee <a href="/en/TC_46/SC_9" title="TC 46/SC 9" class="mw-redirect wl">TC 46/SC 9</a> is responsible for maintaining the standard.</p>

<p>When a serial with the same <a href="/en/Content_(media)" title="Content (media)" class="wl">content</a> is published in more than one <a href="/en/Media_(communication)" title="Media (communication)" class="wl">media type</a>, a different ISSN is assigned to each media type. For example, many serials are published both in <a href="/en/Printing" title="Printing" class="wl">print</a> and <a href="/en/Electronic_media" title="Electronic media" class="wl">electronic media</a>. The ISSN system refers to these types as <b>print ISSN</b> (<b>p-ISSN</b>) and <b>electronic ISSN</b> (<b>e-ISSN</b>).<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span> Consequently, as defined in ISO 3297:2007, every serial in the ISSN system is also assigned a <b>linking ISSN</b> (<b>ISSN-L</b>), typically the same as the ISSN assigned to the serial in its first published medium, which links together all ISSNs assigned to the serial in every medium.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-5"><a href="#cite_note-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span></p>



An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971 and published as ISO 3297 in 1975. ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC 9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the same content is published in more than one media type, a different ISSN is assigned to each media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media. The ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN . 