Presentation by Clément Oury (ISSN International Centre) for the open conference of the IFLA “Serials and Other Continuing Resources” section, IFLA WLIC, Columbus (Ohio), August 15th, 2016. The International Standard Serial Number is one of the oldest identifiers in the bibliographic domain, and also one of the most widely used and known. It was first established as an ISO standard in 1975, as ISO 3297. Originally intended for printed serials, the ISSN standard has been able over time to evolve in order to meet the needs of its users. It has known four revisions since its first release, the latest being in 2007. ISSN are now applicable to serials and to other continuing resources, whether past, present or to be published or produced in the foreseeable future, whatever the medium of publication or production. Each ISO standard regularly undergoes systematic revisions. In April 2016, a vote on the opportunity of a systematic revision was issued by TC46/SC9 to all ISO member bodies. From April to September 2016, they will vote to support or not a complete review of the ISSN standard. Evolution of publishing models, forms and formats; emergence of new concepts and description standards in the library and publishing domains; apparition of new identifiers; and the development of linked data are the most important factors that justify why a revision of the ISSN standard should happen.

1. 11
Revising the ISSN
Involving stakeholders to adapt a bibliographic standard to its ever-
changing environment
Open conference of the IFLA standing committee “Serials and Other Continuing Resources”
IFLA WLIC, Columbus (Ohio), August 15th, 2016
Clément Oury
ISSN International Centre
clement.oury <at> issn.org
@ISSN_IC

2. 2
Overview of the presentation
- The ISSN system today
- A necessary revision of the ISSN standard
- Issues to be discussed and future steps
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

3. 33
The ISSN system today
International Standard Serial Number
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

4. 4
The universe of continuing resources
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016
Continuing resources
Serials
Newspapers
Magazines
Periodicals
Monographic
series
Annual
reports
Blogs
Ongoing Integrating
resources
Websites
Databases
Loose-leaf
Especially
scholarly
resources or
resources
with editorial
content
Dead or Alive!

5. 5
The ISSN network today
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

6. 6
A Register to describe them all
- ISSN assignment entails
• ISSN number assignment
• Construction of the key title (unique in the Register)
• Production of the reference bibliographic record
o + Following the evolution of the resource through time
- All records ingested in the ISSN Register
• Maintained by the ISSN International Centre
• A total of 1,9 million records
• Increase of 75,000 records / year: 30% being online
resource
- Several access services
• ISSN Portal; bulk download of the database, tailored
services such as OAI-PMH…
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

7. 7
Why using ISSN? Or: who’s requesting it?
- Publishers
• Management of their own supply chain; notably for barcodes
• Promotion of their content; e.g. necessary for DOI registration, indexing
services, DOAJ, etc.
- Libraries
• Note: ISSN sometimes assigned as part of legal deposit
• Reliable identification of purchased/accessed content
• Management of physical/digital collections
- Service providers, digitization agencies…
• For the same reasons
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

8. 88
ISO 3297:2007. A necessary revision?
The rise of new stakeholders
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

9. 9
A systematic revision of the standard
- ISSN: a standard established in 1975
• Within ISO TC46 (information and
documentation) / SC9 (identification and
description)
• 4 revisions since 1975
- Latest revision: 2007
• Clarification of scope
• Creation of ISSN-L
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016
Print 0362-4331
ISSN-L 0362-4331
Online 1553-8095
CDROM 1542-667X

10. 10
New stakeholders
- The evolution of publishing industry
• Open access publishing
• Social media – altmetrics
- New metadata providers
• Publishers, discovery services
• Critical role of EDItEUR / ONIX
- New bibliographic models and rules
• The FR-something acronyms: FRBR, FRAD, FRSAD, FRBROO, FRBR-LRM
• RDA
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

11. 11
New identifiers
- Identifiers: the corner stones of the Web of Data
- ISO TC46/SC9 standards: a growing family
• Newcomers: ISTC, DOI, ISNI, ISCI, ISLI
• Already existing members – good as new: ISBN, ISMN,
ISRC
• Some cousins too! E.g. ORCID
- Rethinking the place of ISSN in the identifiers
ecosystem
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

12. 1212
Issues to be discussed
From ISSN IC point of view!
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

13. 13
Scope of ISSN assignment
- ISSNs for digital publications:
what is a “different edition”?
• Influence of ISBN definition of
edition?
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016
+DRMs…
Online 1553-8095

14. 14
Granularity of ISSN assignment
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016
Online 1538-3687
Print 0003-9942
Archives of Neurology (Chicago)
1960-2012
Online 2168-6157
Print 2168-6149
JAMA Neurology
2013-…
Online 2330-9644
Print 0375-8540
A.M.A. Archives of Neurology
1959-1960
ISSN-L 0003-9942 ISSN-L 2168-6149ISSN-L 0375-8540
Meta-ISSN: XXXX-XXXX ?
Issue XXXX-XXXX/YYYY ?
Article:
XXXX-XXXX/YYYY/ZZZZ ?
- Higher level: meta-
ISSNs for a title
through time?
- Lower level: influence
of NISO/PESC?

15. 15
Interactions with other stakeholders
- With other identification agencies
• Ensuring the consistency between identification systems
• Preventing overlaps and “dead angles”
- With the publishing industry
• To ensure that the ISSN system still fit their needs
• To facilitate the ingest of external data
- With the producers and users of linked data
• To promote the ISSN as a reference identifier in the Linked Open Data
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

16. 16
When do we start?
- Vote on systematic revision launched on April 2016
• Results to be announced in September
- IF the results are positive:
- Duration of the revision process: 24 to 48 months
• Examples of the ISBN revision: almost finished, 3-years duraton
- Looking for a representative Working Group
• Members from publishing, libraries, IT domain
- Interested participants to contact their ISO national body
• Note: only TC46/SC9 P-members countries allowed to nominate experts
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016

17. 17
I thank you for
your attention!
Revising the ISSN standard - Clément Oury - IFLA WLIC - Columbus, Ohio - August 15th, 2016