What is the ISBN?
The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is an international numerical code that identifies books within the commercial chain. Each code is associated with a single product and therefore each new edition of the same work (other than a reprint), whether on paper, digital or any other physical or electronic medium in which it is published, must bear a different ISBN.
The ISBN currently consists of thirteen digits that identify the type of product, the country of edition, the publisher of the publication and the title of the work. It also carries a check digit. Since, in addition to the work, the code identifies who the publisher is, each publisher can only manage to obtain the ISBN for its own books.
Since January 12, 2009, the ISBN is no longer mandatory for books and only commercial publications have to carry it. Free publications, publications for internal use by an institution and serials or magazines, among others, are not required to carry ISBNs. The ISBN is assigned by the Spanish ISBN Agency, which has been charging a fee for this service since December 2011.
Who can apply for the ISBN?
The UAB Publications Service manages the assignment of the ISBN for all the books that are part of its publishing collection and for which it has the publishing and distribution rights through the signing of a rights cession contract with the authors or coordinators.
In addition, the Publications Service can manage the obtaining of an ISBN for books published by the official centers of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona —central services, faculties, departments, institutes or formally recognized research groups. If a book is co-published by different institutions, then each one has to process its own ISBN independently; if this is not done, the responsibility will be, to all effects and purposes, of the entity that has given the ISBN to the book.
The Publications Service will process the ISBN for the official UAB centers that request it, along with the legal deposit number, except in the case of co-publications. In this case, the entity in charge of producing or managing the production of the book will have to process the legal deposit. If the production is carried out by the Publications Service, then this procedure will also be carried out automatically.
If the publishing entity of the publication is not strictly an official center of the UAB (i.e. it has its own NIF), even if it is linked to the UAB, this entity is the one that has to manage the obtaining of the ISBN directly. On the other hand, if the edition is made by an author in a personal capacity, whether or not they are a member of the UAB, then this person is the one who has to manage the obtaining of the ISBN indicating that they are requesting it as author-publisher.
How to apply for the ISBN?
If an official center of the UAB, responsible for the edition of a book, wants the Publications Service to manage the application for an ISBN code, it will have to:
- Fill in the application form with all the necessary data.
- Attach an authorization signed by the person in charge of the center making the request, preferably in PDF, stating that the publishing rights are available and indicating the managing center and, if applicable, the project where the management costs are to be charged.
The fee for processing the ISBN is 20 € for printed books, which includes the assignment of the ISBN code and the remission of the 4 mandatory copies to the Legal Deposit Office, and 9.5 € for books in digital format, which have ISBN but do not include legal deposit (although the legal deposit is also made in electronic format).
Once the Publications Service has the complete documentation, it will process the application before the Spanish ISBN Agency. It should be expected that the response time may be approximately one week. In the event that the documentation is not complete or contains errors or omissions, the signed authorization is missing or the corresponding managing center is not indicated, the applicant will be informed of this eventuality, but the application will not be processed until all the information is complete.
What to do next?
The Publications Service will communicate the ISBN code pre-assigned by the Spanish ISBN Agency to the applicant as soon as it is available. The publishing center will have to specify on the credits page of the book that it is an "edition of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona", add the name of the corresponding publishing center in front of it and then state the pre-assigned ISBN. In the case of printed books, the pre-assigned legal deposit number must also be indicated, while digital books do not have a legal deposit number. In addition, the official UAB logo must appear prominently on the cover of the book, with the name of the publishing center underneath, in accordance with the UAB Corporate Identity website.
When the book is printed, eight copies must be sent to the UAB Publications Service for protocol needs (archiving, libraries and mandatory submission of copies to the Legal Deposit Office). If it is an electronic publication that can be downloaded from a web page, then it is only necessary to send an e-mail indicating the permanent URL where the book will be located. It should be remembered that the processing of the legal deposit is mandatory for any publication with a commercial purpose.
If the required copies are not delivered to the Publications Service within one month of the book's publication, or if the corresponding URL is not communicated, the pre-assigned ISBN will become null and void.
* Information that must be filled in on the ISBN application form:
- Author(s) or coordinator(s)
- Title of the book
- Other mentions of responsibility: the name of the center responsible for the edition (central service, faculty, department, institute or formally recognized research group) must be indicated. In addition, the name of the author(s) or, if applicable, of the coordinator(s) of the edition should be indicated on the next line.
- Language of publication.
- Date of publication.
- Type of binding.
- Sales price of the book excluding VAT, whether it is an electronic or digital version (the main purpose of the ISBN is to facilitate the marketing circuit of publications). If it is a publication that will not be offered for sale, then the expression "non-commercial" should be indicated in this field. If it is a non-commercial open access electronic publication, the corresponding URL must also be indicated. Non-commercial ISBNs have the same validity, but are not registered in the ISBN database.
- Print run (essential, unless it is an electronic publication).
- Cataloging code (IBIC/Thema): choose the code from the corresponding list that best fits the subject matter of the work.