How is hyphenation handled for ISBN-13?
Beginning January 1, 2007, ISBN agencies will provide only 13-digit ISBNs comprised of the following five elements: • Element 1: Identifies the EAN prefix (currently either ‘978’ or ‘979’) • Element 2: Identifies the country or language agency • Element 3: Identifies the publisher prefix • Element 4: Identifies the title or specific edition of a publication • Element 5: Identifies the check digit The elements must be separated clearly by hyphens or spaces when displayed in human readable form. Of the five elements, the middle three will be of variable lengths; the EAN prefixes as currently defined (i.e., ‘978’ or ‘979’) and the check digit lengths will remain fixed. The Library of Congress ISBN Converter can be used to determine the proper hyphenation for any ISBN. Click here to access the Library of Congress online converter. For more information about ISBN-13 hyphenation rules and the evolving data and information associated with the rules see the ISBN Users’ Manual.
