What is an ISBN?

An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique numeric identifier assigned to books and book-like products. It's used worldwide by publishers, booksellers, libraries, and other organizations in the book trade to identify specific editions of books. Each ISBN is unique to a particular book edition, making it essential for inventory management, ordering, and cataloging. ISBNs come in two formats: the older 10-digit ISBN-10 and the current 13-digit ISBN-13 standard.

Tool description

The ISBN Validator and Parser is a specialized tool designed to validate and extract detailed information from ISBN numbers. It verifies whether an ISBN is valid according to international standards and breaks down its components to reveal the book's registration group, publisher identifier, and verification check digit. The tool supports both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 formats, automatically detecting the type and parsing the embedded data structure.

Examples

Example 1: Valid ISBN-13

  • Input: 978-0-596-52068-7
  • Output:
    • ISBN type: ISBN-13
    • Registration group: 0
    • Registration group name: English language
    • Publisher: 596
    • Check digit: 7

Example 2: Valid ISBN-10

  • Input: 0-596-52068-9
  • Output:
    • ISBN type: ISBN-10
    • Registration group: 0
    • Registration group name: English language
    • Publisher: 596
    • Check digit: 9

Example 3: ISBN without hyphens

  • Input: 9780134685991
  • Output:
    • ISBN type: ISBN-13
    • Registration group: 0
    • Registration group name: English language
    • Publisher: 13
    • Check digit: 1

Features

  • Validates ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 formats
  • Automatically detects ISBN type
  • Extracts registration group (country/language/region identifier)
  • Identifies publisher code
  • Displays check digit for verification

Use cases

  • Verifying ISBN authenticity before purchasing books online
  • Cataloging books in library management systems
  • Validating ISBN data in publishing workflows
  • Extracting publisher information for book industry analytics
  • Cross-referencing books across international databases

ISBN Structure

An ISBN consists of several parts that identify different aspects of the book:

ISBN-13 Structure:

  • Prefix element (978 or 979)
  • Registration group element (country, language, or region)
  • Registrant element (publisher or imprint)
  • Publication element (specific title or edition)
  • Check digit (error detection)

ISBN-10 Structure:

  • Registration group element
  • Registrant element (publisher)
  • Publication element (title)
  • Check digit

The tool automatically parses these components and displays them in a user-friendly format, helping you understand the origin and publisher of any book.