I'm publishing a book, magazine, journal, or newspaper, what barcode do I need?

ISSN

An ISSN is allocated to serials i.e. a publication issued in successive parts and intended to be continued indefinitely. Serials include:

• Periodicals 

• Magazines

• Newspapers

• Annuals

• Journals

The ISSN is an internationally used code which uniquely identifies a title (thereby distinguishing it from any other publications with the same title). It is an eight-digit number, in two groups of four digits, separated by a hyphen and preceded by the letters ISSN (and a space), e.g.:ISSN 0332-0006. The GS1 prefix 977 is used to encode an ISSN into an EAN 13 bar code. 

Please Note: GS1 Ireland does not manage the allocation of numbers for publications.

ISBN

Books are identified with a 10 digit ISBN consisting of a prefix (which indicates the Centre that assigned it), followed by a string of digits assigned by the Centre to identify the publisher, followed by the digit or digits which identify the specific item. The final digit is a check digit. The GS1 prefix 978 is used to encode an ISBN into an EAN 13 bar code symbol.