What is an ISSN?
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ISSN stands for "International Standard Serial Number," which is a number that uniquely identifies published journals and magazines. The purpose of the ISSN is to identify a specific journal or magazine with a specific title. ISSNs are used by libraries to identify and index journals and magazines, which frequently change titles over time. They also are used by booksellers, wholesalers, and distributors for buying and selling journals and magazines. ISSNs are similar to ISBNs for books, but they are 8 digits rather than 10 or 13.

ISSNs typically appear on the journal or magazine's back cover near the UPC code, on the cover, or on the title or table of contents page. Here are two examples:

In many cases, you can find journals and magazines in the library's catalog or databases by searching for the ISSN. For example, here's how to search by ISSN using the Advanced Search feature in Discover:

When searching by ISSN, try the number with and without dashes. Databases will respond differently to the dashes, so it is best to try both ways if one way doesn't work.