ISSN Online : the ISSN Register now available on the Web Pierre Godefroy 21 Aug 1998 15:25 UTC
The ISSN Register was already available on CD-ROM (ISSN Compact) : ISSN Online is now (as from August 1998) one of the fundamental bibliographic resources available over the Web. The ISSN Register is a comprehensive tool which can be used for several purposes : - world-wide bibliographic searches on serial publications - cataloguing (records can be downloaded and re-used for specific purposes) - constitution of controlled authority files based on ISSN (database management) The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is universally accepted as the prime means of identifying serials (journals, magazines, periodicals of any kind), a vital first step for the management of the articles or contributions they contain. Its use is essential throughout the information chain, from publisher (and from the author of every single contribution or article) to the reader, through document delivery utilities, abstracting and indexing services, subscription agents, libraries, union catalogues, newsagents...., for the efficient management of research, ordering and cataloguing. To date, some 900,000 serials published in 180 countries have been registered and have had an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) assigned. The ISSN network, an intergovernmental organization, is based in 67 National Centres which obtain data at source in the framework of national bibliographies and legal deposit. Each year, it identifies more than 40,000 publications. The ISSN International Centre in Paris, which is responsible for the coordination of the network, registers itself titles published by international institutions (United Nations, Unesco, OECD, European Community...) and international associations (scientific unions, learned societies, etc.) i.e. currently more than 13,000 titles. The sustained growth of electronic serials is reflected in ISSN Online. More and more e-serials (whether online or on different magnetic or optical media) are being added to the ISSN Register. ISSN Online is updated frequently (at least on a monthly basis). Each month some 4,000 new records are added to the ISSN Register and thousands of amendments and corrections are input. All the additions to the ISSN Register may be searched and browsed separately. ISSN Online is a truly multilingual database : some 150 different languages are represented in the ISSN Register. Non Latin scripts are transliterated into the Latin alphabet according to the corresponding ISO standards. Special characters and diacritics are rendered through Unicode characters and displayed on most available browsers. ISSN Online is available to all Internet users on a free trial basis. The trial period expires after one month, during which up to 40 search requests may be launched, 400 records visualised and 10 records downloaded (in their original ISO 2709 exchange format). Just fill up the trial request form (http://www.issn.org/online/trial.html) and you will receive your temporary password by e-mail. ISSN Online is available on a subscription basis, either yearly or monthly. Please refer to the subscription page (http://www.issn.org/onlineprice.html) for more information. For more information about ISSN Online, please contact us at the following address : online@issn.org Your comments and suggestions will be highly appreciated. The team of the ISSN International Centre Pierre Godefroy Assistant to the Director / Assistant du Directeur ISSN International Centre / Centre international de l'ISSN 20 rue Bachaumont, 75002 Paris, France godefroy@issn.org Web pages / Pages sur la toile : http://www.issn.org