Template:ISBN missing

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{{ISBN missing}} is an inline cleanup template for flagging a reference that is missing the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) of the source document. The template adds Category:Pages with missing ISBNs to the article.

Usage

{{ISBN missing|date=May 2026}} or {{ISBN?|date=May 2026}}

• With a reference formatted via a Citation Style 1 template ({{Cite web}}, {{Cite book}}, {{Citation}}, etc.):

1. Place {{ISBN missing|date=May 2026}} outside the citation template
2. red-outlined triangle containing exclamation point Do not place it in the |isbn= parameter of a Citation Style 1 template. The inclusion of text other than the digits of an ISBN in |isbn= corrupts the citation's COinS metadata and the citation's link to Special:BookSources.

• With a free-form reference, just append {{ISBN missing|date=May 2026}} to the end of the citation.
• With either method or format, it will render a inline note.

How to fix the problem flagged by this template

Do not remove the {{ISBN missing}} template without fixing the problem in one of the following ways:

• Determine the ISBN, add it to the reference, then remove the {{ISBN missing}} template

For a reference formatted via a Citation Style 1 template, use its ISBN parameter:

|isbn=X-XXXX-XXXX-X

For a free-form reference:

1. Add the ISBN as appropriate to the citation, preferably using the {{ISBN}} template, or...
2. Better yet, convert the citation to a Citation Style 1 template.

• If you are certain that the source document does not have an ISBN, add a {{No ISBN}} template to the reference, then remove the {{ISBN missing}} template

For a reference formatted via a Citation Style 1 template:

1. Use its ISBN parameter to state explicitly that the ISBN does not exist:

|isbn=<!-- ISBN unspecified --> (you must use HTML <!-- --> comment tags to hide the message from the citation processing software)

2. Place {{No ISBN}} outside the citation template

For free-form reference, just add {{No ISBN}} to the end of the citation.

If you remove the {{ISBN missing}} template without fixing the problem in one of the above ways, someone else will come along later and flag the reference with {{ISBN missing}} again!

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:ISBN missing in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for ISBN missing

No description.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Month and year	date	no description Auto value {{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}	Unknown	optional

See also

• Category:Citation Style 1 templates, includes all Citation Style 1 templates
• Wikipedia:ISBN, describes how to add an ISBN to an article
• {{Lacking ISBN}}
• {{Listed Invalid ISBN}}

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:ISBN missing/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.