ISSN International Centre — The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is an eight-digit number which identifies all periodical publications as such, including electronic serials. Each ISSN assigned to a serial publication is registered in an international database: the ISSN Register. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative source for the identification of serial publications world-wide.

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The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is an eight-digit number which identifies all periodical publications as such, including electronic serials. Each ISSN assigned to a serial publication is registered in an international database: the ISSN Register. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative source for the identification of serial publications world-wide.

Navigate the ocean of periodicals with the ISSN

The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is an eight-digit number which identifies periodical publications as such, including electronic serials. More than one million ISSN numbers have so far been assigned.

It is managed by a world wide network of 85 National Centres coordinated by an International Centre based in Paris, backed by Unesco and the French Government. The ISSN is used by various partners throughout the information chain: libraries, subscription agents, researchers, information scientists, newsagents (through its barcode version).
The world database of ISSN numbers (and the corresponding bibliographic records), known as the ISSN Register, is available through a Web interface, The ISSN Portal, which may be freely evaluated and tested for a period of one month. The ISSN products may be subscribed to through our order form.

Publishers or other interested parties (libraries, documentation centres...) may request the assignment of an ISSN to a given periodical, if it does not yet have one.

Luxembourg accedes to the statutes

The ISSN International Centre is pleased to announce that Luxembourg accedes to the Statutes of the International Centre for the Registration of Serial publications. The National Library of Luxembourg will host the ISSN National Centre.

01/04/2008 – 10:53

ISSN Award

The ISSN Award was established in 2007 by the ISSN Governing Board, to support and encourage ISSN member countries encountering financial difficulties to participate in ISSN training sessions and meetings. The objective of the award is to provide financial support to a country that is making a consistent effort to participate in ISSN activities that would enable them to attend a training session and/or ISSN meeting

25/03/2008 – 13:47

Next meeting of Directors in Tunis

We have the pleasure to inform you that the next meeting of Directors of ISSN National Centres will be held in Tunis (Tunisia), at the kind invitation of the National Library of Tunisia. The dates of the meeting and further information will be provided in due time by the ISSN International Centre. 

We hope to see many of you in Tunis !

11/03/2008 – 16:11



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