ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)

ISSN is the numbering system for serial publications, complementary to ISBN, and it's encoded into the same EAN-13 barcode seen on magazine covers.

ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is a book numbering system complementary to ISBN. An ISSN symbol consists of the letters ISSN followed by ten (10) digits: a group identifier (1-6 digits) and a check digit (1 digit). The group identifier identifies the nation, geographic area, or other similar grouping of publishers. The publisher identifier identifies a particular publisher in a group, and is assigned by the Serials Data System. The title identifier identifies a particular title or edition of a title published by a particular publisher. The check digit is calculated from the preceding digits. Hyphens are used to separate the groups of digits. ISSN codes are printed in machine-readable OCR-A characters.

When you select the ISSN barcode symbology, you will need to type 9 digits with 2 hyphens to produce a complete barcode. For example, inputting "0-724581-91-X" would generate the following code (see below).

The bar code symbols that appear on magazines are encoded using EAN-13 barcode. However, although the type of bar code is the same as that used for other retail items, the numbering system used to generate the bar code is different. The EAN for normal retail products is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies that product. A serial publication like a magazine, however, already has a unique number to identify it: the ISSN. The EAN bar code for a serial publication is generated from the ISSN for that publication.

When encoded in an EAN-13 bar code, the ISSN is preceded by the digits 977, and the ISSN check digit (the last of the 8 digits) is not encoded. A two-digit price code, almost always "00", is added to the end, and finally the EAN check digit is added.

Let's say you have the number 0264-3596 as a serial publication's ISSN. The true ISSN is 0264359 (without the 6, since it is the ISSN check digit). The EAN-13 number would then be 9770264359008 for normal issues. The "00" is the normal-issue code, and the "8" is the EAN-13 check digit. A special issue could receive a 2-digit number other than "00".

Some serial publications also have an add-on 2-digit code that represents the issue number.

You can find much more information about how to apply for an ISSN code and other information at ISSN.ORG. There is more information about ISSN at the United States Library of Congress.