Bowker provides publishers with industry standard product identifiers -- including ISBN, SAN, and DOI -- as well as bar code services.

ISBN

The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique 10-digit number that identifies one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition. As the official ISBN Agency for the United States, Bowker is responsible for the assignment of the ISBN Publisher Prefix to those publishers with a residence or office in the U.S. who are publishing their titles within the U.S.

As the U.S. ISBN Agency, Bowker assigns ISBNs to firms in the U.S., as well to locations outside of the U.S. To learn more about the ISBN or to order an ISBN, please visit the U.S. ISBN Agency website at www.isbn.org.

SAN

The SAN (Standard Address Number) is a unique seven-digit identifier used to signify a specific address of an organization in (or served by) the publishing industry. It is an American National Standard, initiated and maintained by R.R. Bowker, and has become THE identification code for electronic communication within the industry. The use of the SAN significantly reduces the problems faced by other non-standard numbering systems such as billing errors, books shipped to the wrong points, errors in payments and returns.

As the U.S. SAN Agency, Bowker assigns SANs to firms in the U.S., as well to locations outside of the U.S. To learn more about the SAN or to order an SAN, please visit the U.S. SAN Agency website at www.isbn.org.

DOI

The DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent identifier given to a Web file or other Internet document so that if its Internet address changes, users will be redirected to its new address. The DOI may point to a chapter, an illustration, etc. A DOI must have a corresponding description. An ISBN may have multiple DOI’s. The DOI may contain alpha/numeric characters, however, it must begin with the number 10 followed by a decimal point (10.). The DOI also must contain a forward slash (/) which separates the DOI prefix from the suffix.

Please contact DOI@bowker.com for further details.

Bar Code Service

Your ISBN can be translated into a worldwide compatible bar code format. Bar code scanning is used in the U.S. by major bookstore chains for book publications and book-related items. The bar code will be provided with the following standard specifications: 2400 dpi, 99.36% magnification, vanilla bar code (white background, black text), and price add-ons.

CLICK HERE to learn about pricing for Bowker Bar Code Service.