Focus on ISSN Germany

Christian Schütz, Head of Collection Development and Media Acquisition, Director of the German ISSN Centre, explains the missions of the German ISSN centre, the scope of an ISSN assignment, the notion of key title and the practical usage of an ISSN.

The German National Library’s diverse areas of responsibility also include the national ISSN centre for Germany. If you need an ISSN for a continuing resource published in Germany, then the German centre is responsible. A detailed overview of all publications that can receive an ISSN can be found on the information pages of the national ISSN center for Germany. The assigned ISSN is documented in the ISSN portal, the journal database and the catalog of the German National Library together with a bibliographic description. We therefore recommend checking an ISSN in the DNB catalog: https://portal.dnb.de/ or the ISSN portal, where you can find the current bibliographic description.