Template talk:ISSN

Too specific
Present version is too specific. It doesn't work well for use in references, particularly when one reference has two ISSNs. Mud_volcano I think the original article actually needs to use an Infobox which includes ISSN as a component. (SEWilco 21:22, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC))


 * A page similar to Special:Booksources (as for ISBN) would be preferable, but in general, it seems to work fairly well. -- User:Docu


 * See 10867 and 3663. — Omegatron 01:06, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Wishful thinking about ISSN
I am not at all happy with ISSNs in general, starting with the problem that the managing company doesn't release the list of ISSNs for public download/parse/review. But I'm also none too happy with being shunted off to a German library for my ISSN work - especially since many of the articles have Wikipedia articles, homesites with useful info, or both. In my dreams, it would be possible to define an template for the journal's article, and have the  template link to the journal when available, or a "bridge page" when not - similar to how the ISBN  template works. Does anyone know if this magic is even possible? --Alvestrand 11:54, 20 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I posted ISSN support wanted to wikitech-l. --LA2 20:20, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

why template for ISSN but not needed for ISBN
I am sorry for spamming but found no better place to ask. There is some tweak implemented in Wikipedia that allows automatic linking of an ISBN but for ISSN it does not happen and, therefore, one has to use this template. Consider this example:


 * Isaac Babel, 1920 Diary, Yale, 2002, ISBN 0300093136

produces the following output: Please note that no template, like ISBN 0300093136 is used to produce the link above near ISBN.
 * Isaac Babel, 1920 Diary, Yale, 2002, ISBN 0300093136

At the same time, to have an ISSN linked, one needs to add a template. Why is that so? --Irpen 18:44, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, it's a good question. I was sort of wondering the same thing, but I had no idea that ISBN is magic like that.  I was thinking that ISBN might be a magic word, but it's not listed there.  But look here. I think this is our answer.  Wasn't immediately obvious.  I think ISBN needs to be wikilinked to this page on some the cite help pages.  --KeithB 05:07, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Unhelpful results for some titles
Using this template for ISSN codes which are valid, but not known to WorldCat (example:, as used on West Midland Bird Club) results in the user being taken to a page on their site with an unhelpful "The page you tried was not found. You may have used an outdated link or may have typed the address (URL) incorrectly." message (yet retuning a "200" http header, not "404"). I've written to WorldCat, using their feedback form, pointing this out, and asking them to substitute something like "We don't know that ISSN. Try searching for it on Google." as well as letting them know that Wikipedia is linking to them in this way; but if anyone has contacts there with whom they can raise the issue, please do. Or is there a more suitable alternative target? Andy Mabbett 19:32, 20 March 2007 (UTC)


 * It's kind of dead. I changed the query string to another website. -- User:Docu

Suggested category
More specific than (or rather, along with) Category:External link templates, Category:Arts and culture-related templates might be considered- though it's true not every magazine falls under this category, not every book does either, yet OCLC is in a subcat of this, so... dunno... (yes, I'm an admin and the protection isn't a barrier to my doing this myself, but common sense- what little I possess of it - suggests I not make this change unilaterally.) Schissel | Sound the Note! 05:52, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

WorldCat URL format change
I noticed that this template creates links to WorldCat using http:// worldcat.org/... rather than http:// www.worldcat.org/... Given that http:// worldcat.org/... redirects to the http:// www.worldcat.org/... version and is now the recomended format:, could this template please be changed to point to the www.worldcat.org version in the first place? :) -Paul1337 (talk) 00:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Cancel that editprotected request; I hadn't realised that this template used the ISSN search link template so the change only needs to be made there. -Paul1337 (talk) 02:05, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Tweak for print
Simply replace the current template with this. It'll help clean up PDFs and Books. {{only in print|ISSN&amp;nbsp;{{{1}}} {{documentation}}

Headbomb {{{sup|ταλκ}}κοντριβς – WP Physics} 21:22, 3 March 2010 (UTC)


 * This should probably be done for {{tl|ISSN search link}} instead and a slew of other identifiers such as doi, PMID, PMC and other identifiers. It should also be for all forms of print probably, and not just for PDF/book print. I suggest discussing this shortly at Village Pump Proposals to make sure the community agrees. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 22:14, 3 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Discussion started at Village pump (proposals). Headbomb {{{sup|ταλκ}}κοντριβς – WP Physics} 22:58, 3 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Alright, well there seems to be consensus for this, so might as well make that edit now. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 01:53, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
 * {{done}}  Ron h jones {{sup| (Talk)}} 22:48, 6 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks, much appreciated. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 22:51, 6 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Please revert the edit or correct the HTML comment end tag. (Line 7: ) Preferably the former. – allen四names 01:35, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Hopefully fixed now? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:14, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Appear to work now. I don't know if the {{Tl|Only in print}} works. Thank you. – allen四names 01:45, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Something wrong
I believe this edit accidentally removed two brackets and the template is now rendering incorrectly. Thanks.&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 06:02, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Delink option
Would it be possible to incorporate an option that specifies that "ISSN" be delinked? When you have an article that talks about numerous journals and periodicals one after another, ISSN need only be linked for the first usage of the template - if the editor could then place a parameter into following uses of the template that specified delinking the ISSN component, it would allow these instances to read better.

Much like the "lk" parameter in Template:Convert. Fattonyni (talk) 16:03, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I see no reason to. Compare ISSN 1541-4817 to both as rendered and as wiki-text. – Allen4names 00:36, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * My point is that if one uses the ISSN template so that the number is linked (e.g. 1541-4817 in your example), ISSN is also linked. All fine and well if there is only one usage of the template. But with subsequent usages in an article, the editor ends up with numerous linked ISSN s throughout the article, the number of which could become very large depending on the type of article. This goes against WP policy of only linking the first term. If there was an option to disable the linking of ISSN, the following would be possible in an article:


 * Journal of Foo Organisation,
 * Journal of Bar Organisation, ISSN 0332-4907
 * Journal of FooBar Organisation, ISSN 0047-231X


 * So the ISSN is unlinked, but the link to the worldcat category is still provided for better integration. Fattonyni (talk) 15:02, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Change request
At the moment the link to Worldcat is too specific. For example links to http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0836 which is one hit for this ISSN. I would like someone to change it to http://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0%3Ajrnl&q=n2%3A0028-0836 which gives more hits. It's all the same journal but at many different libraries in different countries plus eJournals. What do you think? --91.22.200.127 (talk) 20:03, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
 * What is the "n2" in your url for and is it necessary? &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 15:03, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
 * "n2" is the code for ISSN numbers. "bn" is for ISBN, "kw" for keyword etc. You can find this out via advanced search. --91.22.183.145 (talk) 15:08, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Okay I tried it and it didn't work. Can you test it out in the /sandbox version and then when it's working reactivate the request. &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 15:32, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
 * That was hard work. The problem was the equal sign in the template as I found out in the end. Solution and final code see here. --91.22.183.145 (talk) 17:00, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah yes, of course! Well done for finding that out. All updated. &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 18:28, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it is working. Thanks, much appreciated! --91.22.183.145 (talk) 18:32, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 3 March 2014: Use protocol relative URL
Since worldcat websites support HTTPS, I suggest switching the link to protocol-relative URL. The change is " http://www.worldcat.org " -> "//www.worldcat.org". Thanks! Chmarkine (talk) 05:33, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done Jackmcbarn (talk) 13:18, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Check for invalid ISSN
Currently, Wikipedia has no checks in place for an invalid ISSN. The template allows an invalid ISSN without displaying an error message. This has to change somehow. for opinions. -- Magioladitis (talk) 22:36, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Maybe ISSN could use the same checking code as Module:Citation/CS1? Templates such as cite journal will produce a visible error for invalid ISSNs, such as:
 * Hope this helps! GoingBatty (talk) 00:01, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
 * The code that is used by Module:Citation/CS1,, is pretty simple and could be adapted to this template.
 * The code that is used by Module:Citation/CS1,, is pretty simple and could be adapted to this template.


 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 12:02, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

I wonder if any of you could help adding this check in the code. -- Magioladitis (talk) 05:44, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
 * , I used the code in Module:Citation/CS1 as suggested to create Module:Check isxn, so the following works,
 * &rarr; Invalid ISSN
 * &rarr;
 * in this code, you would probably use
 * you can change the value passed through the error parameter to be an error message, a tracking category, or both. Frietjes (talk) 15:54, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Trappist the monk as you are a sysop, do you want to be the one to try this? -- Magioladitis (talk) 10:00, 7 August 2015 (UTC)


 * that's what sandboxes are for, right? anyone can try anything there; special permissions not required.


 * as far as it goes, this appears to work
 * – should not have an error
 * – should have an error
 * – should have an error


 * I'm not sure that this is what is wanted. The module, in my opinion should have nothing to do with error messaging and should only return true or false.  The template should then act on the result of the test. When the test fails: should the template add an error category? should the template link the issn anyway?


 * perhaps we change the invoke to be:
 * and then act on whether that returns nothing (good) or 'false' (an error)
 * and then act on whether that returns nothing (good) or 'false' (an error)


 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 10:59, 7 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Could do it directly with  -- WOSlinker (talk) 18:42, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I've gone and updated the template but used Please check ISSN rather than the category directly. -- WOSlinker (talk) 18:50, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Invalid ISSN problem - space issue
Doing it the correct way, WorldCat is ok and gives you results.
 * If I enter  into ISSN, I get .   Using a space and not a dash (-) is against ISSN specs.  If you use a space, WorldCat gives off an error.
 * If I enter, it does not give off an error.  Clicking on the link , WorldCat gives off an error.
 * If I enter  (no dash), it does not give off an error.  Clicking on the link, WorldCat gives off an error.

fr:Utilisateur:NicoV/Test contains some tests that frwiki is doing while adding invalid ISSN support. Bgwhite (talk) 00:39, 5 January 2016 (UTC)


 * forgot to ping... Bgwhite (talk) 00:41, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Why am I being pinged?
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 00:55, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * You and WOSlinker were involved in the discussion above. Magioladitis is on holiday, so I didn't ping him.  Bgwhite (talk) 01:18, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * So what you want from me is a reason why you aren't seeing error messages when you think you should be? If so, then there are two reasons. First, because Module:Check isxn uses code lifted from Module:Citation/CS1.  Module:Citation/CS1 doesn't care if there are too many or not enough hyphens because it rewrites the whole issn string.  Adding a snippet of code return a fail code when issn is not in the form   should do the trick.


 * The module now appears to do the right thing (these are direct module calls with the four issn patterns from the start of this conversation):
 * (0954 2361)
 * (0954--2361)
 * (09542361)
 * (0954-2361)
 * But, the module call in the template is different; the second reason. It passes  as the 'error message':
 * But, that template only adds a category so there isn't a 'visible' error message as perhaps you were expecting.
 * But, that template only adds a category so there isn't a 'visible' error message as perhaps you were expecting.


 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 01:59, 5 January 2016 (UTC)


 * I don't care why they don't work, only that it should be fixed. The frwiki ISSN template works.   I wasn't expecting a visible message because of the above discussion, but there should be one. The category wasn't added in any of the above examples.  Bgwhite (talk) 02:16, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

We should fix this template to yield an error message when an invalid ISSN is given. -- Magioladitis (talk) 07:29, 12 January 2016 (UTC)

Why is this ISSN marked as invalid?
The article is being placed in, but if I change the ISSN in the cite template to use 08888507 instead of id}}, the ISSN works fine and there is no error message. What is going on here? Is this due to a change in Module:Check isxn on 4 January 2016, ? It looks like the change is requiring a hyphen in the ISSN. – Jonesey95 (talk) 13:43, 16 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers rewrites the issn to make sure that it renders with the required hyphen – even when one is not provided or provided in the wrong place. This template doesn't support that.  It requires both the value and the format to be correct.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 13:52, 16 January 2016 (UTC)
 * The documentation, since its creation in 2006, has said:
 * "For a publication with the ISSN 1234-5678, use either 1234-5678 or 12345678."


 * It looks like ISSNs without hyphens were silently disabled by the change made in the section Change request above. ISSNs without hyphens worked fine before that, and they will work fine again if that change is reverted. – Jonesey95 (talk) 14:25, 16 January 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi, I just refined the documentation here per the examples and per an issue I had with ISSNs, but if you go in to edit-source Preview mode for the ISSN doc page and scroll down you will see a red ISSN error displayed for the 2nd example (without a dash). Cheers!   04:01, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * The discussion just above this has more examples of the ISSN template having problems. Bgwhite (talk) 10:29, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I have modified the documentation to reflect the change in the template's error-checking code described above. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:23, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

RFCs on citations templates and the flagging free-to-read sources
See
 * Village pump (proposals)
 * Village pump (proposals)

Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 17:06, 29 October 2016 (UTC)

Suppressing ISSN label?
Hi! Does anyone know if there's presently a way to suppress the ISSN label in this template, in order to produce the WorldCat-linked ISSN without the ISSN prefix? Though I don't have a specific example of this, I imagine this function might be useful in lists of publications in which ISSN would become repetitive:

Thanks, Bob Amnertiopsis ∴ChatMe! 00:24, 6 April 2017 (UTC)


 * Try ISSN link. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 00:47, 6 April 2017 (UTC)
 * That looks like the thing I'm looking for. Thanks! Bob Amnertiopsis ∴ChatMe! 02:22, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 16 September 2017
Please change "//www.worldcat.org/" to "https://www.worldcat.org/". When using Special:LinkSearch to search for HTTP links, relative links are caught in there as well giving an inaccurate list of articles using http links. Jon Kolbert (talk) 04:09, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done —&thinsp;JJMC89&thinsp; (T·C) 06:37, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 12 October 2017
Can you please create, or remove the Category:International Standard Series Number templates? Rathfelder (talk) 14:46, 12 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Removed. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 14:54, 12 October 2017 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 23 February 2020
I am getting error messages when using this template to link to ISSN numbers.

I created a template:Issno that works fine.

Talk to G Moore 19:10, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Sent to TFD, I don't know what error messages you're getting with, but those don't exist. What error are you talking about? &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 19:30, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm guessing that it has to do with what you see after clicking the link (these urls):
 * https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=2640-8570
 * https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=2638-9924
 * whereas these (from ):
 * https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=2640-8570
 * https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=2638-9924
 * or these (the base url used by cs1|2):
 * https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2640-8570
 * https://www.worldcat.org/issn/2638-9924
 * work. But, these other cases that I took from the first couple of articles at Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:ISSN, do work:
 * so that suggests that the problem is with WorldCat and not with this template.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 19:59, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, it's very likely time to fix the link to resolve to issn.org and not OCLC per WP:ASTONISH. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:12, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
 * so that suggests that the problem is with WorldCat and not with this template.
 * —Trappist the monk (talk) 19:59, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, it's very likely time to fix the link to resolve to issn.org and not OCLC per WP:ASTONISH. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:12, 23 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, it's very likely time to fix the link to resolve to issn.org and not OCLC per WP:ASTONISH. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 20:12, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

The ISSN template results in a link that does a queru with the "n2:" in front of the ISSN. When I manually take out the "n2", and search WorldCat it works. The following message appears on the Screen:


 * No results match your search for 'n2:2640-8570' > 'Journal, magazine'.

Having trouble? Help us improve our search and let us know what you're trying to find. Or, save this search for future reference. 23:46, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

"n2:" added to Worldcat search, which then fails to find record
I've added an ISSN to Contemporary Culture Index as, but when I click on it Worldcat shows a failed search for "n2:1944-4621". If I remove the "n2:", all is well and I get to the right page. This seems to be the problem described above. I wonder if someone could please fix it, or point out what I'm doing wrong? Thanks. Pam D  09:02, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Special:SerialSources
As previously discussed, I think there should be a page analogous to Special:BookSources for ISSNs; perhaps it could be called Special:SerialSources.

Here are some links I think it should include:
 * ISSN Portal: https://portal.issn.org/resource/ISSN/{}
 * WorldCat: https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:{}
 * Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISSN{}
 * HathiTrust: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor={}&searchtype=isn

Solomon Ucko (talk) 17:11, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
 * That seems like a good topic for Village pump (proposals). There is nothing we can do on this template talk page. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:10, 16 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Good idea, thanks. I've started WP:VPR. Solomon Ucko (talk) 21:53, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

Kaputt
None of the examples overleaf work. The response is every time "Oops, something went wrong | WorldCat.org We are unable to connect to this page, please try again" -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 03:33, 9 May 2024 (UTC)


 * It works here. &#32; Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 04:25, 10 May 2024 (UTC)