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ABOUT ISNI

ISNI is the ISO certified global standard number for identifying the millions of contributors to creative works and those active in their distribution, including researchers, inventors, writers, artists, visual creators, performers, producers, publishers, aggregators, and more. As ISO 27729, it is part of a family of international standard identifiers that includes identifiers of works, recordings, products and right holders in all repertoires, e.g. DOI, ISAN, ISBN, ISRC, ISSN, and ISWC.

The mission of the ISNI International Agency (ISNI-IA) is to assign to the public name(s) of a researcher, inventor, writer, artist, performer, publisher, etc. a persistent unique identifying number in order to resolve the problem of name ambiguity in search and discovery; and diffuse each assigned ISNI across all repertoires in the global supply chain so that every published work can be unambiguously attributed to its creator wherever that work is described.

By achieving these goals, the ISNI will act as a bridge identifier across multiple domains and become a critical component in Linked Data and Semantic Web applications.

KEY STATISTICS

15.3 million 

ISNI holds public records of over 15.3 million identities

13.5 million  

ISNI holds public records of over 13.5 million individuals (of which 2.99 million are researchers) 

1.7 million 

ISNI holds public records of 1,780,655 organizations  

86 sources

The ISNI database is a cross-domain resource with direct contributions from 86 sources

NEWS

ISNI Press Release, November 2022: Apple Music encourages ISNI submissions partner wide

“Connecting listeners to their favourite artists’ content just got easier,” according to music industry giant, Apple Music.

The ISNI International Agency (ISNI-IA) is...

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ISNI Press Release, April 2022: Bibliographic Data Services becomes an ISNI Registration Agency

The ISNI International Agency (ISNI-IA) is pleased to announce that Bibliographic Data Services (BDS) has recently joined its membership as a new ISNI Registration...

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ISNI Press Release, March 2022: The National Library of Finland & Finnish Copyright Management Organizations commence cross sector ISNI project

The ISNI International Agency (ISNI-IA) is delighted to report that a brand new, cross-sector ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier) project commenced in...

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