Encoding publications like Magazines, Newspapers, Books, and Music Scores entails specific considerations:

Addressing the needs of distributors and publishers for processing returns (sorting and counting) requires a solution that incorporates a supplementary number, in addition to the primary one, for product identification.

The international systems ISSN, ISBN, and ISMN are already in place to handle the numbering of periodicals, books, and music scores, respectively.

For the encoding of periodical publications (such as newspapers, magazines, annual reports, etc.), the use of ISSN codes is recommended.

GS1 has assigned the specific prefix 977 to the ISSN-International Standard Serial Number for the allocation of identification codes for periodical publications, utilizing this prefix accordingly.

The same method used for encoding other Trading Units is followed for encoding books and their covers. However, it is recommended to use the ISBN-International Standard Book Numbering system. GS1 has allocated prefixes 978 and 979 for ISBN to assign codes from this range of "Publishing" numbers.

In Greece, the management of ISBN codes is handled by the National Library.

A subset of the prefix 979, specifically 9790, has been allocated for the ISMN - International Standard Music Numbering system and the encoding of music publications (sheet music, etc.).