Journal Registration (ISSN Registration)

Journal registration is the process of obtaining an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for a serial publication -- an 8-digit identifier assigned exclusively by the ISSN Network (a national ISSN Centre, or the ISSN International Centre for countries without one) that uniquely identifies a specific title in a specific medium. A publication counts as "registered" only once the relevant Centre has verified the title, publisher, and format and formally assigned it an ISSN through the ISSN Portal -- not merely because a publisher claims or advertises one. It is a bibliographic-identification step, distinct from peer-review vetting, DOAJ inclusion, database indexing, or any copyright/trademark filing.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 18 Jul 2026

Worked examples

Is an instance

A university press launching a new peer-reviewed, online-only journal applies to its national ISSN Centre roughly three months before the first issue, supplying the title, publisher name and address, and the journal URL with visible publisher-identity evidence; the Centre assigns an Online ISSN, which the journal then uses in its site footer and its Crossref/DataCite article metadata.

Is an instance

An established print-only journal launches a companion online edition and requests a separate Online ISSN for it, since the ISSN identifies a specific medium; the ISSN Network links the print and online ISSNs via a shared ISSN-L so citation and library systems recognize both as the same underlying title.

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance

A publisher pays a third-party website (not a national ISSN Centre and not the official ISSN Portal) advertising a guaranteed ISSN within 24 hours for a fee -- ISSNs are assigned only by the ISSN Network, and in most countries, including the United States, the official process is free; reliance on a paid broker is a red flag covered in CASRAI's guide to identifying predatory journals and publishers.

Not an instance

A journal that has simply started using a self-assigned or borrowed-looking number on its site, without ever having applied to a national ISSN Centre or the ISSN International Centre, has not registered a journal -- an ISSN is only real once the Network has actually assigned it and it resolves correctly in the ISSN Portal.

Journal registration — in the bibliographic sense the term is normally used — is the process of obtaining an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for a serial publication (an academic journal, magazine, or other continuing resource) from the ISSN Network: either the national ISSN Centre responsible for the country the serial is published in, or, for countries without a national Centre and for qualifying international organizations, the ISSN International Centre (CIEPS) in Paris directly. Registering a journal assigns it a unique 8-digit identifier for its title, made available through the ISSN Portal (portal.issn.org) and used by libraries, indexes, and citation systems to unambiguously reference that serial. It is a bibliographic-identification step, not a peer-review credential, a copyright filing, or a trademark — see “What ISSN registration does not confer” below before assuming it certifies anything about a journal’s scholarly quality.

Why the term is ambiguous, and what this page covers

“Journal registration” and “trial registration” both use the word “registration” for an unrelated act, and the two get confused in searches. This page covers ISSN registration for a serial publication — the correct reading for a research-administration or publishing context. If you were actually looking for the requirement that a clinical trial be entered into a public registry before enrollment (a study-level obligation under ICMJE policy and FDAAA 801, unrelated to publications), see Clinical Trial Registration and Prospective Clinical Trial Registration instead — CASRAI covers that separately in the clinical-research cluster.

How ISSN registration actually works

ISSN assignment is performed exclusively by the ISSN Network (ISSN International Centre plus around 90 national Centres) — there is no other legitimate route to a genuine ISSN, and no fee-charging third-party “instant ISSN” service is part of that network (see the counter-example below). The mechanics vary slightly by country but follow the same shape:

Where a national Centre exists (for example, the U.S. ISSN Center at the Library of Congress), a publisher applies directly to that Centre. In the United States, assignment is free, done through the Center’s online application system (“ISSN Uplink”), and requires the title, publisher name and address, and — for an online serial — the URL plus evidence the publisher’s name and address appear on the site; a print serial requires a physical or scanned copy of the cover, title page, and an early issue.
Where no national Centre exists, the request goes to the ISSN International Centre itself via the ISSN Portal. Publishers register an account, purchase ISSN “credits” (a standard request costs one credit; an urgent request costs at least two), and submit supporting evidence in the same categories — cover/title-page scans for print, URL plus publisher-identity evidence for online, label scans for physical digital media. The International Centre states a standard turnaround of roughly 20 working days, or 5 working days for an urgent request submitted with sufficient credits.
Timing: the International Centre’s guidance is that a print title should be registered up to three months before its first issue; an online-only title is generally expected to already have at least a couple of published issues with substantive content before a request is processed, since the Centre is confirming an actual, identifiable publication exists.

One ISSN is assigned per language edition, per local/regional edition, and per medium of a title — a journal published in print and online is registered for each format separately (see “Print ISSN, Online ISSN, and ISSN-L” below), though both can typically be requested together in one application.

Print ISSN, Online ISSN (eISSN), and ISSN-L

A serial that publishes in more than one medium does not share a single ISSN across formats — the print and online versions of the same title each get their own ISSN, because the ISSN identifies a specific manifestation of the title, not just the title in the abstract. To keep the two linked as “the same underlying serial” for citation, discovery, and library-system purposes, the ISSN Network additionally assigns a Linking ISSN (ISSN-L) — in practice, one of the medium-specific ISSNs (conventionally the print one, if a print edition exists) designated to represent the title across all of its registered formats. A citation manager, library catalog, or Crossref/DataCite metadata record can therefore cite either the format-specific ISSN or the ISSN-L and still resolve to the correct title.

What ISSN registration does not confer

Because “registration” implies formal legal status in many other contexts, it’s worth being explicit about what registering a journal for an ISSN does not do:

It is not a peer-review or editorial-quality check. The ISSN Network verifies that a title, publisher, and format genuinely exist and are correctly described — it does not evaluate whether a journal peer-reviews submissions, has a real editorial board, or meets any scholarly standard. A magazine, newsletter, or predatory journal can hold a perfectly valid ISSN. See Academic Journal for the actual markers of scholarly legitimacy, and How to Identify Predatory Journals and Publishers if that’s the real question behind the search.
It is not the same as DOAJ inclusion. A valid ISSN is one of several things DOAJ checks when a journal applies to be listed in its directory, but ISSN registration and a DOAJ application are two separate processes run by two unrelated organizations. Holding an ISSN does not mean a journal is DOAJ-indexed.
It is not copyright registration, trademark registration, or a government business/press license. An ISSN says nothing about who owns the content or the title as intellectual property, or whether the publisher is legally authorized to operate as a publishing entity in its jurisdiction — those are entirely separate legal processes, if a jurisdiction requires them at all.
It is not journal indexing. Appearing in Scopus, Web of Science, or PubMed/MEDLINE is a distinct, much more selective editorial-quality process each database runs on its own — see What Does It Mean for a Journal to Be Indexed? for how that differs from simply having an ISSN.

Worked examples

A university press launching a new peer-reviewed, online-only journal applies to its country’s national ISSN Centre roughly three months ahead of the first issue, supplying the confirmed title, publisher name and address, and the journal’s URL with publisher-identity evidence visible on the site; once the Centre confirms these, it assigns an Online ISSN, which the journal then displays on its site and includes in its Crossref/DataCite metadata for every article.
An established journal that has published only in print for years launches a companion online edition. Because the ISSN identifies a specific medium, the publisher requests a separate Online ISSN for the new digital edition rather than reusing the print ISSN; the ISSN Network links the two via a shared ISSN-L so citation and discovery tools recognize both as the same title.

Counter-example

A publisher pays a third-party website — not a national ISSN Centre and not the ISSN Portal — advertising a guaranteed ISSN “within 24 hours” for a fee. This is not legitimate journal registration: ISSNs are assigned only by the ISSN Network (a national Centre or the ISSN International Centre), and in most countries, including the United States, the official process is free. A number issued outside that network either isn’t a real ISSN at all or was obtained through the legitimate process anyway with an unnecessary markup — either way, “pay a broker” is not how journal registration actually works, and reliance on such a service is itself one of the practices covered in how to identify predatory journals and publishers.

Related terms

Academic Journal
DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)
Clinical Trial Registration (unrelated concept, same word)
Prospective Clinical Trial Registration
What Does It Mean for a Journal to Be Indexed?
How to Identify Predatory Journals and Publishers
DOI

Use in your systems

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