Dorota -- Nearly any change in title words that isn't a direct substitution (say '&' for 'and') has the potential to indicate a change in subject matter.  My own rule of thumb (which not all catalogers will agree with) is that if the change (after the first five words) would result in a new subject heading or the existing subject headings no longer being appropriate, then I would consider the title change to be clear evidence of a change in subject matter.

Otherwise, I would rely on "In case of doubt, consider the change to be minor."

And yes, the publisher's intention could be accounted for here.  The specific statement could indicate the publisher considers this a change of scope.  The US ISSN Center would be the final arbiter on whether a new ISSN is assigned, so if you would like to pursue this further, I would contact them.  issn@loc.gov

Steve Shadle/Serials Access Librarian  *****  shadle@u.washington.edu
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On Mon, 6 Nov 2006, [iso-8859-1] Dorota Laska wrote:

> Minor or major title change?
>
> With v. 31, no. 1 (2006), the Journal of collective negotiations in the
> public sector (ISSN 0047-2301) changed its title to Journal of
> collective negotiations. In the Library of Congress bib record (LC
> control no. 73640321), this is treated as a minor title change:
>
> 246 1  |iIssues for <Vol. 31, no. 1-   > called:|aJournal of collective
> negotiations
>
> I'm wondering why this qualifies as a minor rather than a major title
> change. The second paragraph of AACR2 21.2C2.a) reads: "Consider also as a
> major change the addition, deletion, or change of any word after the first
> five words (the first six words if the title begins with an article) that
> changes the meaning of the title or indicates a different subject matter."
>
> Perhaps this is a question of subjective interpretation, but to
> me "collective negotiations" does not mean the exact same thing
> as "collective negotiations in the public sector." Furthermore, the
> Editor's Notes in v. 30, no. 4 (2005) and v. 31, no. 1 (2006) point out
> that the title change is accompanied by a broadening of the journal's
> scope, and a move to make it "a general interest management and labor
> relations journal..."
>
> Many thanks in advance,
> Dorota Laska
>