BS ISO 3297:2020

What is ISO 3297 about?  

ISO 3297 defines and promotes the use of a standard code (ISSN) for the unique identification of serials and other continuing resources. 

ISO 3297 allows for grouping related continuing resources into clusters identified by a separately-prefixed ISSN as defined in this document. 

Note 1: Monographs, sound and video recordings, notated music publications, audio-visual works, textual works and musical works have their own standard identifiers and are not specifically mentioned in this document. Such items can carry an ISSN in addition to their appropriate identifiers when they are part of a continuing resource. 

Note 2: This document does not contain any operational guidance for its practical implementation. 

Who is ISO 3297 for? 

ISO 3297 on Information and documentation is useful for: 

• Print and electronic media 
• Newspapers 
• Journals 
• Annual or periodic report 
• Publications  
• Institutional repositories 
• Directories and databases. 

Why should you use ISO 3297?  

International standard serial number (ISSN) is an eight-digit number used to identify serial publications.  

ISO 3297 will help you in describing the metadata which is useful in identifying the data recorded for International standard serial number (ISSN). This ISO 3297 helps in identifying the resources such as continuous resources, integrated resources and monographic series of ISSN. The construction and cluster of ISSN help in designing the codes which result in avoiding the confusion of information in ISSN. 

ISO 3297 will help you in ensuring the ISSNs eight characters can be easily recognized and helps in continuously displaying these ISSN. The ISSN machine legibility helps in containing embedded metadata in a standard format which results in increasing the search accuracy of ISSN on the internet.  

What’s changed since the last update?  

BS ISO 3297:2020 supersedes BS ISO 3297:2017. BS ISO 3297:2020 includes some technical changes with respect to BS ISO 3297:2017. These include: 

• The Cluster ISSN concept has been broadened to identify groups of serial titles based on new types of relations 
• The list of resource types eligible for ISSN assignment has been expanded 
• The construction of the ISSN, its machine legibility, and ISSN metadata profile have been detailed 
• The interoperability of ISSN with other identification systems has been specified