There is an ISSN FAQ at the ISSN International Centre website:

http://www.issn.org:8080/English/pub/faqs/issn

Included in that is the following:

When should an ISSN be changed ?

A new ISSN is assigned when the title of the publication is changed. All other possible changes are not taken into account (change of publisher, place of publication, frequency, editorial policy...). However, all mergers with other serials, supplements, other editions etc. should be submitted to the relevant ISSN Centre which may decide that separate ISSN are needed.

A new ISSN is assigned when a title changes because the basis of the ISSN system is the pair ISSN key/title, both unique. If the same ISSN was to be retained, attached to several titles, ambiguity would crop up again.

A new ISSN is also assigned when the medium of the publication chage (for instance a printed publication becomes an electronic publication)

Steve Shadle/Serials Access Librarian  *****  shadle@u.washington.edu
University of Washington Libraries      ***     Phone: (206) 685-3983
Seattle, WA 98195-2900                   *        Fax: (206) 685-8743

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006, Linda K. Heimburger wrote:

> I've noticed this, too, with Workforce and Workforce Management: the
> same ISSN.
> Are publications required to change ISSN's if they change titles?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Blackman [mailto:Christine.W.Blackman@WILLIAMS.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 9:31 AM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: [SERIALST] ISSN for "Critical Studies in Media Communication"
>
> On updating my local print record for this title I was surprised to see
> that the journal, which started this new title in 2000, is still using
> the ISSN for the previous title "Critical Studies in Mass
> Communication."  I couldn't find the correct new ISSN anywhere, either
> on the print issue or on the journal information Web page.  This leads
> me to wonder a what the procedures are for notifying a publisher that
> they should be using a new ISSN.  Can anyone at the ISSN center or a
> CONSER library elaborate on this?
>
> This is the longest period of time that I have ever noticed a journal
> continue to use the old ISSN.  I was always a little bothered by the lag
>
> time because of the confusion with citations, but usually publishers
> caught up within an issue or two.  However, now with the prevalence of
> electronic indexes and abstracts (which generally rely on the print ISSN
>
> rather than the e-ISSN), MARC record services, and article linkers, this
>
> kind of mistake has caused us to effectively lose access to 5 years of
> information.
>
> ISSNs should be (from CONSER records validated by NSDP):
>
> Critical Studies in Media Communication, ISSN 1529-5036 (print)
> Critical Studies in Mass Communication, ISSN 0739-3180 (print)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Christine W. Blackman
> Catalog Librarian
> Williams College Libraries
> Williamstown, MA  01267
> 413-597-4403
> cblackma@williams.edu
>