Editing ISBN (section)

=== Registrant element ===
The national ISBN agency assigns the registrant element ([[cf.]] [[:Category:ISBN agencies]]) and an accompanying series of ISBNs within that registrant element to the publisher; the publisher then allocates one of the ISBNs to each of its books. In most countries, a book publisher is not legally required to assign an ISBN, although most large bookstores only handle publications that have ISBNs assigned to them.<ref>{{cite web |title=Independent Publishers |url=https://www.waterstones.com/help/independent-publishers/48 |website=Waterstones |access-date=2 February 2020 |quote=Before submitting any titles to our central buying team for consideration, your book must have the following: An ISBN... |archive-date=9 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109085858/https://www.waterstones.com/help/independent-publishers/48 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How to obtain an ISBN |url=https://help.barnesandnoble.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1262/~/how-to-obtain-an-isbn |website=Barnes & Noble |access-date=2 February 2020 |quote=We use ISBNs to track inventory and sales information.  All books Barnes & Noble transacts on must have an ISBN. |archive-date=2 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202204227/https://help.barnesandnoble.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1262/~/how-to-obtain-an-isbn |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Product ID (GTIN) requirements for Books |url=https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200786200 |publisher=Amazon.com |access-date=2 February 2020 |quote=Effective June 1, 2017, you must provide an ISBN, EAN, or JAN to list a book in the Amazon catalog, regardless of the book's publication date. |archive-date=2 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202211553/https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200786200 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The International ISBN Agency maintains the details of over one million ISBN prefixes and publishers in the [https://grp.isbn-international.org Global Register of Publishers].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.isbn-international.org/content/global-register-publishers |title=Global Register of Publishers |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=International ISBN Agency |access-date=15 November 2022 |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115070135/https://www.isbn-international.org/content/global-register-publishers |url-status=dead }}</ref> This database is freely searchable over the internet.

Publishers receive blocks of ISBNs, with larger blocks allotted to publishers expecting to need them; a small publisher may receive ISBNs of one or more digits for the registration group identifier, several digits for the registrant, and a single digit for the publication element. Once that block of ISBNs is used, the publisher may receive another block of ISBNs, with a different registrant element. Consequently, a publisher may have different allotted registrant elements. There also may be more than one registration group identifier used in a country. This might occur once all the registrant elements from a particular registration group have been allocated to publishers.

By using variable block lengths, registration agencies are able to customise the allocations of ISBNs that they make to publishers. For example, a large publisher may be given a block of ISBNs where fewer digits are allocated for the registrant element and many digits are allocated for the publication element; likewise, countries publishing many titles have few allocated digits for the registration group identifier and many for the registrant and publication elements.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Splane|first=Lily|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54527545|title=The book book : a complete guide to creating a book on your computer|date=2002|publisher=Anaphase II|isbn=0-945962-14-2|edition=2nd|location=San Diego, Calif.|oclc=54527545}}</ref> Here are some sample ISBN-10 codes, illustrating block length variations.
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%; max-width:40em;"
|-
! ISBN || Country or area || Publisher
|-
| <code>99921-58-10-7</code><!--ISBN 978-99921-58-10-4--> || Qatar || NCCAH, Doha
|-
| <code>9971-5-0210-0</code><!--ISBN 978-9971-5-0210-2--> || Singapore || World Scientific
|-
| <code>960-425-059-0</code><!--ISBN 978-960-425-059-2--> || Greece || Sigma Publications
|-
| <code>80-902734-1-6</code><!--ISBN 978-80-902734-1-2--> || Czech Republic; Slovakia || Taita Publishers
|-
| <code>85-359-0277-5</code><!--ISBN 978-80-902734-1-2--> || Brazil || Companhia das Letras
|-
| <code>1-84356-028-3</code><!--ISBN 978-0-14-015098-8--> || English-speaking area || Simon Wallenberg Press
|-
| <code>0-684-84328-5</code><!--ISBN 978-0-684-84328-5--> || English-speaking area || Scribner
|-
| <code>0-8044-2957-X</code><!--ISBN 978-0-8044-2957-3--> || English-speaking area || Frederick Ungar
|-
| <code>0-85131-041-9</code><!--ISBN 978-0-85131-041-1--> || English-speaking area || J. A. Allen & Co.
|-
| <code>93-86954-21-4</code><!--ISBN 978-93-86954-21-3--> || English-speaking area || Edupedia Publications Pvt Ltd.
|-
| <code>0-943396-04-2</code><!--ISBN 978-0-943396-04-0--> || English-speaking area || Willmann–Bell
|-
| <code>0-9752298-0-X</code><!--ISBN 978-0-9752298-0-4--> || English-speaking area || KT Publishing
|}

==== English-language pattern <span class="anchor" id="Pattern for English language ISBNs"></span> ====
English-language registration group elements are 0 and 1 (2 of more than 220 registration group elements). These two registration group elements are divided into registrant elements in a systematic pattern, which allows their length to be determined, as follows:<ref name="range_file_generation"/>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"
|-
! rowspan="2" | Publication<br />element length
! colspan="3" | 0 – Registration group element
! colspan="3" | 1 – Registration group element
! rowspan="2" | Total<br />Registrants
|-
! From !! To !! Registrants !! From !! To !! Registrants
|-
! 6 digits
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-00-xxxxxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-19-xxxxxx-x
| 20
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-01-xxxxxx-x<br />1-05-xxxxxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-02-xxxxxx-x<br />1-05-xxxxxx-x
|  3
| 23
|-
! 5 digits
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-200-xxxxx-x<br />0-229-xxxxx-x<br />0-370-xxxxx-x<br />0-640-xxxxx-x<br />0-646-xxxxx-x<br />0-649-xxxxx-x<br />0-656-xxxxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-227-xxxxx-x<br />0-368-xxxxx-x<br />0-638-xxxxx-x<br />0-644-xxxxx-x<br />0-647-xxxxx-x<br />0-654-xxxxx-x<br />0-699-xxxxx-x
| 494
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-000-xxxxx-x<br />1-030-xxxxx-x<br />1-040-xxxxx-x<br />1-100-xxxxx-x<br />1-714-xxxxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-009-xxxxx-x<br />1-034-xxxxx-x<br />1-049-xxxxx-x<br />1-397-xxxxx-x<br />1-716-xxxxx-x
| 326
| 820
|-
! 4 digits
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-2280-xxxx-x<br />0-3690-xxxx-x<br />0-6390-xxxx-x<br />0-6550-xxxx-x<br />0-7000-xxxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-2289-xxxx-x<br />0-3699-xxxx-x<br />0-6397-xxxx-x<br />0-6559-xxxx-x<br />0-8499-xxxx-x
| 1,538
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-0350-xxxx-x<br />1-0700-xxxx-x<br />1-3980-xxxx-x<br />1-6500-xxxx-x<br />1-6860-xxxx-x<br />1-7170-xxxx-x<br />1-7620-xxxx-x<br />1-7900-xxxx-x<br />1-8672-xxxx-x<br />1-9730-xxxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-0399-xxxx-x<br />1-0999-xxxx-x<br />1-5499-xxxx-x<br />1-6799-xxxx-x<br />1-7139-xxxx-x<br />1-7319-xxxx-x<br />1-7634-xxxx-x<br />1-7999-xxxx-x<br />1-8675-xxxx-x<br />1-9877-xxxx-x
| 2,867
| 4,405
|-
! 3 digits
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-85000-xxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-89999-xxx-x
|  5,000
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-55000-xxx-x<br />1-68000-xxx-x<br />1-74000-xxx-x<br />1-76500-xxx-x<br />1-77540-xxx-x<br />1-77650-xxx-x<br />1-77830-xxx-x<br />1-80000-xxx-x<br />1-83850-xxx-x<br />1-86760-xxx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-64999-xxx-x<br />1-68599-xxx-x<br />1-76199-xxx-x<br />1-77499-xxx-x<br />1-77639-xxx-x<br />1-77699-xxx-x<br />1-78999-xxx-x<br />1-83799-xxx-x<br />1-86719-xxx-x<br />1-86979-xxx-x
| 22,010
| 27,010
|-
! 2 digits
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-900000-xx-x<br />0-900372-xx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-900370-xx-x<br />0-949999-xx-x
|  49,999
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-869800-xx-x<br />1-916506-xx-x<br />1-916908-xx-x<br />1-919655-xx-x<br />1-987800-xx-x<br />1-991200-xx-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-915999-xx-x<br />1-916869-xx-x<br />1-919599-xx-x<br />1-972999-xx-x<br />1-991149-xx-x<br />1-998989-xx-x
| 113,741
| 163,740
|-
! 1 digit
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-6398000-x-x<br />0-6450000-x-x<br />0-6480000-x-x<br />0-9003710-x-x<br />0-9500000-x-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 0-6399999-x-x<br />0-6459999-x-x<br />0-6489999-x-x<br />0-9003719-x-x<br />0-9999999-x-x
| 522,010
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-0670000-x-x<br />1-7320000-x-x<br />1-7635000-x-x<br />1-7750000-x-x<br />1-7764000-x-x<br />1-7770000-x-x<br />1-8380000-x-x<br />1-9160000-x-x<br />1-9168700-x-x<br />1-9196000-x-x<br />1-9911500-x-x<br />1-9989900-x-x
| style="font-family:monospace;" | 1-0699999-x-x<br />1-7399999-x-x<br />1-7649999-x-x<br />1-7753999-x-x<br />1-7764999-x-x<br />1-7782999-x-x<br />1-8384999-x-x<br />1-9165059-x-x<br />1-9169079-x-x<br />1-9196549-x-x<br />1-9911999-x-x<br />1-9999999-x-x
| 164,590
| 686,600
|-
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total
| 579,061
! colspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | Total
| 303,537
| 882,598
|}