ISO 18:1981

Overview

ISO 18:1981 - Documentation - Contents list of periodicals defines rules for the presentation and position of the contents list (table of contents) in serial publications. Published as a technical revision that cancels ISO Recommendation R 18-1956, this standard gives practical guidance to ensure consistent, reusable, and machine‑friendly contents lists for journals, magazines and other periodicals.

Keywords: ISO 18, contents list of periodicals, table of contents, periodical documentation, journal contents list

Key topics and technical requirements

• Mandatory contents list: A contents list (sommaire) must be printed in every issue.
• Consistent placement: The contents list must occupy the same position in each issue of a volume/year. Preferred location is the first page of the issue following the second page of the cover; also recommended on the first or fourth cover page.
• Continuation rules: If the contents list begins on the first cover page it may continue on the fourth, and vice versa; if begun on the first page of the issue it may continue on the second.
• Order and grouping: Items should preferably follow the order of appearance in the issue, but grouping by subject (e.g., analyses, chroniques, congresses) is permitted.
• Header and identification: The contents list must be headed “sommaire” and include the issue’s bibliographic identification (biblid) as defined in ISO 30.
• Item elements: For each article or contribution include:
  • author name(s) as on the article header,
  • full title and subtitles (with continuation indicators for serialized articles),
  • first page number and, optionally, last page number (use a hyphenated page range).
• Pagination details: If an article’s text is not contiguous, give inclusive page ranges (e.g., 426–432, 457–458).
• Language handling:
  • Announce each article in the article’s original language.
  • For translated contents lists, provide a separate list for each language after the original; where only one contents list exists, translated titles may follow originals.
• Layout: Present the contents as a coherent whole with clear separation (e.g., blank lines) between item entries to facilitate reprography.

Applications

• Standardizes the presentation of periodical contents for editors, publishers, and typographers.
• Improves discoverability and indexing for librarians, abstracting services and cataloguers.
• Facilitates consistent reprographic production and easier machine processing for digital archives and aggregators.

Who should use this standard

• Journal and magazine publishers, production editors, typesetters
• Library cataloguers, indexers, abstracting services
• Archivists and digital publishers implementing consistent metadata and layouts

Related standards

• ISO 8 - Documentation: Presentation of periodicals
• ISO 30 - Documentation: Bibliographic identification (biblid) of serials
• ISO/R 215 - Presentation of journal articles (referenced)
• ISO/R 639 - Language, country and authority codes (language identifiers)

Adopting ISO 18 helps ensure uniform, searchable, and reader‑friendly contents lists across multilingual and serial publishing workflows.