Frequently Asked Questions

Cartographic search is available from the landing page of the Portal. It enables you to search by place of publication, clicking successively on the dots until you have reached the desired place of publication.

- Subscribing users are able to navigate and zoom at the level of the specific publication place.

- Free users are able to navigate and zoom on the world map to search among Confirmed records from a specific country.

At the bottom of the map, you have 6 tabs corresponding to 5 UNESCO geographic areas and another tab with the whole world. Clicking on a tab will provide you a search results page with the ISSN records corresponding to the region of the word selected (for Subscribing users only) [see section 3.5. What can I do from the results page?].

The simple search is accessible from the Portal home page. It is a quick and efficient way to search and find ISSN records. The simple search may be refined further [see section 3.6. Search results and faceted search].

3.2.1. What does the criteria “All” mean?

“All” is the criteria selected by default. 

As a subscribing user:

The “All” search is performed on any field of the record, except coded fields (MARC21 008) and some administrative fields (MARC21 9XX). Therefore, this search covers for example the publisher field, the CODEN or the various note fields. A ranking by relevancy will prioritize which records are displayed: e.g. records where keywords are found in “title” fields will be given priority over those where the keywords are found in “note” fields. As a free user, the search is limited to the “Released ISSN data” fields [see section 2.3. What does Released ISSN data mean?]. You can enter one or several words. By default, the words within the search box are associated by the Boolean operator AND. To search for an exact phrase and narrow your research, put the words into quotes.

3.2.2. How to search by “ISSN”?

As a subscribing user, the search by ISSN is performed on all ISSN fields, including the ISSN-L and the ISSNs found in linking entries (MARC21 022 and 7XX fields). As a free user, the search is performed only on the ISSN field (MARC21 022field ). You may enter the ISSN with or without the hyphen. The structural validity of the requested ISSN is checked. If you enter an invalid ISSN, you are informed that the requested number does not correspond to a valid ISSN. If you enter a cancelled ISSN, you will be informed of the valid ISSN (it will be indicated in the Identifiers frame on the left).

3.2.3. How to search by “Title”?

As a subscribing user, the search by title is performed on all title fields: key title, abbreviated key title, title proper, variant titles, and titles found in linking entries (MARC21 222, 210, 245, 246 and 7XX fields). As a free user, the search is limited to Confirmed records and to the key title and the proper title [see section 2.3. What does “Released ISSN data” mean?].

The advanced search will allow you:

- to search specific elements of ISSN records.

- to make a combined search using several fields.

This page is organised in two main blocks:

- The first block allows to search a title and/or an ISSN. Both fields are not repeatable. They can be combined by a Boolean operator (which is by default OR).

- The second block allows to combine the above search with one or several additional field(s), including the “date” field. It is possible to add as many new fields as necessary, clicking on the blue button “[+]”.

Boolean operators are proposed by default between all the different chosen criteria, and you can change them using the pull-down menu. The frame on the left allows you to combine your search with the most frequent search criteria.

3.3.1. How to make an advanced search by title?

It works as with the simple search option, but you can specify, using pull-down menus:

•    You can specify the type of title:
o    “All” titles: the search is performed on key-title, abbreviated key-title, title proper, variant titles, and titles in linking fields (MARC21 210, 222, 245, 246 and 7XX fields). Note that it is the same as the search by “title” for the simple search.
o    “Key-title” titles: the search is performed on key-title field only (MARC21 222 field)
o    “Key-title and variant titles”: the search is performed on key-title, abbreviated key-title, title proper and variant titles (MARC21 210, 222, 245 and 246 fields)
•    You can specify if the title contains, begins with or ends with the search term(s).

3.3.2. How to make an advanced search by ISSN?

It works as with the simple search option, but you can specify the type of ISSN using a pull-down menu.

•    “All” ISSN: the search is performed on all ISSN, including the ISSN-L and the ISSNs found in linking entries (MARC21 022 and 7XX fields). Note that it is the same as the search by “ISSN” for the simple search.
•    “ISSN”: the search is performed on the specific ISSN field only (MARC21 022 $a).
•    “ISSN-L”: the search is performed on the ISSN-L field only (MARC21 022 $l).

It is also possible to upload a list of ISSN [see section 3.3.3. How to search for several ISSN?].

3.3.3. How to search for several ISSN?

Through the Advanced search form, you can submit a list of ISSN formatted in ASCII in .txt format. Each ISSN must be followed by a carriage return. Click on the button “Upload” located next to the ISSN field and validate by clicking on the button “Start a search”.

This kind of search allows to search the ISSN status (Confirmed, Provisional, …), but also to check the bibliographic information contained in these ISSN records.

The number of ISSN that can be uploaded through a list is limited to 10 000.

You may have more results than the number of ISSN provided in the list: it may happen if you have selected “All” ISSN as search option. To have precise results, select the “ISSN” search option.

3.3.4. How to make an advanced search by date?

This block allows to search by beginning (MARC21 008 field, position 7-10) or ending date of publication (MARC21 008 field, position 11-14).

You can either enter a specific date(s), or move the cursors on the timeline.

This criterion is not repeatable.

It can be combined with other criteria with the operator AND by default.

3.3.5. How to make a combined search?

This block contains criteria allowing to search on all fields of a record.

Criteria are combined by default by the operator AND. A pull-down menu on the left enables to select which index will be searched. You can add several additional fields by clicking on the blue button [+] on the right. Depending on the criteria, you can either:

- enter a search term in a free field,

or

- select the item of your choice by clicking on a plus sign [+] that becomes a cross [X] when selected. You can select several items if needed (several languages, subjects, countries, types of resource, …).

The indexed fields are the following:

- Corporate contributor

- ISNI - Publisher

- Place of publication

- Subject (you can specify up to 3 levels of subjects, to narrow your search).

- Type of record - Status of the resource

- Type of resource

- Frequency

- Alphabet

- Language

- Country

- URL

- Medium (exhaustive choice of media)

- Category of material

- Open Access status (Y/N).

Submit your search by clicking on the button “Start a search”.

Some fields are indexed by the simple search « All », but are not among the criteria of a combined search. For instance, you can make a simple search by CODEN or by any search term liable to be included in the notes field, but these criteria cannot be used for a combined search. 

As a free user, the search process is the same, but is limited to “Released ISSN data” [see section 2.3. What does “Released ISSN data mean”?]. Uploading a list of ISSN is not possible.

The expert search allows users to search an element in a precise MARC21 field or sub-field. This search is intended for users with a good knowledge of MARC21 and of the Register, and is restricted to subscribing users.

Select the search field from the pull down menu, and enter a MARC21 code.

Ex: to search all daily resources, select the field “Frequency” and enter the coded value “d” for “Daily”;

To search all blogs, choose the field “ROAD code” and enter the value OA-B.

To search for a subject, select the classification of your choice (Dewey or UDC) and enter the specific classification index required.
Ex: to search for “film music”, enter the Dewey classification index “781.542”.

You can combine several criteria.

After having performed a cartographic / simple / advanced / expert search, the search results page displays 3 areas:

- Faceted refinement on the left side, - The search results in the central frame, - Tools on the right side.

From the results page, you can:

- refine your search through the faceted refinement [see section 3.5.1. How to use the faceted refinement?], - have an overview of the results with a list of record snippets, - display the list of records generated on a map, switching from the “List” display to the “Map” display from the pull-down menu, - sort the list of short records by relevance or by alphabetical order, - display from 5 to 100 records per page, - browse from one page to another back and forth using the buttons [<] and [>], or skip to the beginning or the end of the list using the buttons [<<] and [>>]. - Use the tools on the right.

As a free user, the search results will be limited to “Released ISSN data” [see section 2.3. What does Released ISSN data mean?].

3.5.1. How to use the faceted refinement?

Most search fields of the advanced search are also available as facets: e.g. medium, language, date, etc. At the top of this area, your search criteria are reminded, and you can go back to the advanced /expert search form if needed, clicking on the button “Modify your search”. Depending on the number of results, you can use one or several facets to filter the results. Each facet is displayed in a specific box, with the different choices (followed by the number of records found for that choice). For each facet, you may display more choices by clicking on the arrow at the bottom of the box. There are specific facets:

- Medium (The three icons correspond to Print / Online / Digital carrier) - Open Access - Record status

When you have selected a facet, your choice is reminded at the top of the left-hand frame. You can cancel that choice by clicking on the red cross. As a free user, available facets correspond to “Released ISSN data” [see section 2.3. What does “Released ISSN data mean”?].

3.5.2. Which tools can be used from the results page?

From the results page, you can view records, export records, print records [see section 5. Tools for users].

3.5.3. How to display ISSN records from the results page?

From the results page, you can click on the title on a record, or on the “medium” icon in each record snippet, to display the record page. You may also select several records by clicking on the “+” on the left of each record snippet. Then click on “View records” (in the tools menu on the right) in order to display the record pages.