The ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) is an eight-digit number which identifies periodical publications as such, including electronic serials. Considering that ISBNs are 10 or 13 digits, ISSNs should logically be a simpler process, right? I thought so too. Oh boy was I ever WRONG...
The ISSN is a numeric code which is used as an identifier: it has no signification in itself and unlike the ISBN does not contain in itself any information referring to the origin or contents of the publication.
The ISSN takes the form of the acronym ISSN followed by two groups of four digits, separated by a hyphen. The eighth character is a control digit calculated, according to a formula similar to that used to generate an ISBN Check digit, on the basis of the 7 preceding digits; this eighth control character may also be Roman numeral "X" if the result of the computing is equal to "10".
The ISSN is linked to a standardized form of the title of the identified serial, known as the "key title", which repeats the title of the publication, qualifying it with additional elements in order to distinguish it from other publications having identical or very similar titles. EG: Although they were published before the institution of the ISSN, S.F. Adventures (running 9 issues beginning 1952) would have required a different ISSN than S.F. Adventures (running 12 issues beginning 1956)
Fantastic Stories Quarterly (only 4 issues in 1950 and 1951) would have required a different ISSN than Fantastic Story Magazine (19 issues from 1951 thru 1955)
If the title of the publication changes in any significant way, a new ISSN must be assigned in order to correspond to this new form of title and avoid any confusion. A serial publication whose title is modified several times in the course of its existence will be assigned each time a new ISSN, thus allowing precise identification of each form of the title : in fact it is then considered that they are different publications even if there is a logical link between them.
Example: over the long course of it's history, Astounding Science Fiction retitled itself to Analog/Astounding and then Analog Science Fiction. Although it was the same publication, each name change would have required the issue of a new ISSN identifier.
Comic Books? (BIG Bear-sized sigh here)...A Whole 'Nother Story Altogether... SOME comic series are issued an ISSN. Others aren't. Limited Series comics, planned and released as a finite number of issues, are not issued an ISSN OR an ISBN BUT! (sigh) Graphic novels are issued an ISBN, and if the previously mentioned short run Limited Series' are compiled into one binding (thus creating a form of Graphic Novel - where the individual issues become chapters in the book), the resulting publication would be issued an ISBN and not an ISSN...Suffice it to say that several major Comic Book organizations are working on setting up an identifier system for use in the hugely variable world of comic books.
Different ISSN numbers are assigned for the different versions of a publication (paper, online, floppy disk, CD-ROM, microform...) - even if the title and content are identical. Only reproductions issued as substitutes to the original retain the same ISSN.
Wrapping up (and after researching I'm feeling the need to be wrapped up myself in a cozy jacket with 87" sleeves that buckle in the back): Contrary to other types of publications, the world of serial publications is particularly changeable and complex : the lifetime of a title may be extremely short; many publications may be part of a complex set of relationships, etc. These particularities themselves necessitated the introduction of the ISSN.
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