
ABSTRACT
Book number is the identity of the identification of publications originally, but in
China's specific national conditions, the nature of book number has been shifted to be
lever that government controls the publishing industry. As a policy with Chinese
characteristics, through the analysis of its history, present and future, we can understand
the government's management on the publishing industry and the future of it.
The evolution of Book number management policies of China can be divided into three
stages. From 1956 to 1987, the book number from the uniform book number to the
standard book number increasingly improved. During this period, trading book number
and other issues surfaced as the industry's diseases, even the government repeated its
polices, but the situation was unable to prohibit. In this case, our country introduced
ISBN total control policy since 1994.The policy has its historical necessity, but it isn’t
immutable since it has hampered the development of publishing industry. In 2008,
China starts a trial which is called the ISBN real-name system, and then the
management of ISBN become to be industry services.
After we know the development of the policy of ISBN management, we will study the
settings, implementation and trends of book number management policy to see the
advantages and disadvantages. There is something wrong with the setting, so polarity is
inevitable. Beyond the capacity of the policies to their own functions, the
implementation has naturally been declined, and there are a number of complications
and side effects. The targets of the policy of ISBN total control didn’t achieve its aim,
and the target group's response can be described as a sham. Through the analysis of SCP,
we can see the negative impact clearly. Besides, the management of private book
industry is seriously lagging behind. The policy of ISBN total control has hampered the
development of the publishing industry, so we should reform the ISBN management.
Recognizing the crux of the matter, it's time to using right measures including concept,
experience and means. Firstly, we should change concepts, if the direction is not clear,
the way will be wrong. Secondly, we should increase the managed objects. Recalling the
historical precedent, following peer’s reform, learning experience from Hong Kong and
Taiwan, researching the development of private publication, which all would provide us
with inspiration. Without doubt, the ISBN management should be integrated into the
industry management. We could administrative measures from four aspects: the macro
regulation, economic policies, publishing laws and regulations. As well as the
reinforcement of industrial policy, we should reduce the ISBN management at the same
time to return to the nature of ISBN eventually. These will release the productive forces
of publication, and promote the development of publication freely and prosperous.
Key Words: ISBN, Publication, Total Control