A reading list names a textbook four ways at once: authors, title, edition and, often, an ISBN. They ought to agree. On MIT's Spring 2025 syllabus for Design and Manufacturing II they do not: the entry asks for the eighth edition of Kalpakjian's Manufacturing Engineering and Technology, dates it 2001, and prints an ISBN that belongs to an access card for the eighth edition's e-text (Chun & Ramos, 2025).
EdCitation publishes this guide for anyone holding an entry like that. It explains ISBNs, editions, printings and Global Editions from the International ISBN Agency's manual and publishers' pages read on 24 September 2026, then takes a real entry to the right book with EdCitation's Cite a source, the Library and Verify references.
What is an ISBN, and what do its parts mean?
An ISBN identifies one edition of one title from one publisher in one format. It had ten digits until the end of 2006 and has had thirteen since 1 January 2007 (International ISBN Agency, n.d.). The users' manual names five parts, and says the hyphens or spaces between them only aid reading (International ISBN Agency, 2017).
| Part | In 978-1-951693-60-2 | What it identifies |
|---|---|---|
| Prefix | 978 | Issued by GS1, the barcode body: 978 or 979 |
| Registration group | 1 | A country, region or language area |
| Registrant | 951693 | The publisher or imprint |
| Publication | 60 | One edition of one title, in one format |
| Check digit | 2 | Nothing new: it tests the other twelve |
Southern Utah University (2026) prints that number for OpenStax's College Physics 2e on a Fall 2026 physics syllabus.
ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 name the same book
An old ten-digit ISBN becomes its thirteen-digit form when 978 goes in front and the last digit is worked out again. So 0-321-11583-X and 978-0-321-11583-6 are one book, and EdCitation's Cite a source returned the same record for both: Brenneis, L. (2002). Final cut pro 3 for Macintosh. Peachpit.
How do I check that an ISBN is valid?
Test the last digit, which is calculated from the others so that most typing slips break it. For an ISBN-13, the agency's method (International ISBN Agency, 2017, Appendix 1) runs:
- Multiply the first twelve digits by 1 and 3 in turn.
- Add the products. For 978-1-951693-60-2: 9 + 21 + 8 + 3 + 9 + 15 + 1 + 18 + 9 + 9 + 6 + 0 = 108.
- Divide by 10 and keep the remainder: 8.
- Take it from 10. The answer, 2, must be the last digit; a remainder of 0 gives 0.
Put another way, all thirteen digits, weighted the same way, must add up to a multiple of 10. Mistype one digit, as in 978-1-951693-61-2, and the total becomes 113. Cite a source takes an ISBN only when that digit is right; given the mistyped number, it asked for "a DOI, PubMed ID, arXiv ID, ISBN, web address, or the full title".
Why some ISBN-10s end in X
The agency's 2001 manual weights the first nine digits of an ISBN-10 from 10 down to 2; the total plus the check digit must divide by 11, and a check digit of 10 is written X (International ISBN Agency, 2001). For 0-321-11583-X the products add up to 111, one over a multiple of 11, so the check digit is 10: X.
What a check digit cannot catch
A valid number is not proof of the right book. MIT's 2019 syllabus for a graduate course, Gendering U.S. Immigration Policy, gives 9780321115836 for The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (Choi & Kretsedemas, 2019). Every digit checks out, and the number belongs to Brenneis's Final Cut Pro 3 for Macintosh. Only a lookup finds that.
Why does one textbook have so many ISBNs?
Because the rule is one ISBN per edition per format. The agency's manual gives a separate number to each edition, each product form (hardback, paperback, PDF, EPUB), each variant of one, and each set of usage limits, such as whether a file may be printed; a new title, author name, publisher or language also takes one (International ISBN Agency, 2017, sections 6.1 and 6.2). A reprint with the same text keeps its number, and a new price or cover does not need one.
| Book | Version | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| Callister and Rethwisch, 10th ed. (Wiley) | E-book, January 2018 | 978-1-119-40549-8 |
| Loose-leaf, June 2020 | 978-1-119-72177-2 | |
| WileyPLUS access with the loose-leaf | 978-1-119-72184-0 | |
| Its Global Edition (Wiley) | Paperback, January 2020 | 978-1-119-45391-8 |
| OpenStax, College Physics 2e | Print, colour | 978-1-711470-83-2 |
| Print, black and white | 978-1-711470-82-5 | |
| 978-1-951693-60-2 | ||
| Any of them | Looked up by number | EdCitation's Library or Cite a source |
The rows come from Wiley's pages (Wiley, n.d.-a, n.d.-b) and OpenStax's (Urone & Hinrichs, 2022). Southern Utah's list, which calls the book online and free, gives the PDF's number.
Formats are not always the same text
Callister's preface, in Wiley's copy of the front matter, lists three versions of the tenth edition and says the abridged, binder-ready print companion leaves out the problem statements (Callister & Rethwisch, 2018). Buy that one by its ISBN and the homework is missing.
Access codes and bundles
The manual gives a multi-item pack one ISBN, and lists licence key vouchers for online books among things that should not get one. Pearson's page, archived in January 2022, sold Kalpakjian's eighth-edition e-text access code card under 9780135228609 all the same: "This ISBN is for the Pearson eText access card" (Pearson, n.d.-c). It is the number on MIT's syllabus.
What is the difference between an edition and a printing?
An edition is the content; a printing, which the manual calls an impression, is one print run of it. The International ISBN Agency (2017) defines an edition as every version carrying essentially the same content, treats significant revision as a new edition usually numbered on the title page, and calls a reprint a later run of the same edition, under the same ISBN. Its FAQs add that a revised book needs a new ISBN and a statement on the back of the title page that it is revised (International ISBN Agency, 2018).
Reading a copyright page, line by line
The copyright page is the back of the title page, where the manual requires the ISBN to appear. The one in Wiley's front matter for Callister and Rethwisch's tenth edition shows everything a reference needs:
- The copyright line lists 2018, 2014, 2010, 2007, 2003 and 2000. Cite the newest, 2018: APA's year is the copyright page's, whatever year the book reached the shops (American Psychological Association, 2020).
- The catalogue block reads "10th edition" and "Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, [2018]", with an ISBN for each format: enhanced EPUB, PDF, loose-leaf companion and an evaluation copy.
- The number line, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, counts printings. By trade convention the lowest number is the printing, so this copy is a first printing, though publishers follow no single standard (Biblio, n.d.).
- A warning: if the back cover's ISBN differs from this page's, the back cover is correct.
Are Global Editions the same as US editions?
Not for a reference list. A Global Edition is a separate book, with its own ISBN and date and sometimes its own title and length. Pearson describes its Global Editions as prepared with educators around the world to include content "especially relevant to students outside the United States" (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2020). Wiley gives the US tenth edition of Callister 992 pages, dated January 2018, and the Global Edition, titled Callister's Materials Science and Engineering, 944 pages, its e-book December 2019 and paperback January 2020 (Wiley, n.d.-a, n.d.-b).
What we could not confirm: none of these publisher pages lists what changed, chapter by chapter, and retailers' claims are not the publisher's word. Assume page and problem numbers may differ.
Given the Global Edition's paperback ISBN, Cite a source returned, in a rerun on 27 September 2026: Callister, W. D., Jr., & Rethwisch, D. G. (2020). Callister’s materials science and engineering. Wiley. The authors are complete, and the title is in sentence case, as APA wants. Check the title against the title page and add the edition in brackets after it.
How do I get from a reading list entry to the right book?
Work from the ISBN outwards, and trust the record over the list. The MIT entry shows every step.
- Copy the entry exactly. "Kalpakjian, S. Manufacturing Engineering and Technology. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. ISBN: 9780135228609."
- Check the digit, or give the number to EdCitation's Cite a source, which costs nothing, needs no sign-in and turns away a number whose digit is wrong.
- Read what the number is. Cite a source returned: Kalpakjian, S., & Schmid, S. (2019). Pearson eText for manufacturing engineering and technology -- access card. Pearson. That is an access card, not the book.
- Search the Library by ISBN, then by title, newest first. EdCitation's Library gave one card for the ISBN: the access card, 2019, one to buy. The title and Kalpakjian's name gave 19 records, from a 2025 Global Edition through e-texts, companion websites, access cards and a 2013 International Edition back to 1989.
- Check the publisher. Pearson dates the eighth edition's e-text 15 September 2020, ©2021, and has published a ninth, dated 15 April 2025, ©2026 (Pearson, n.d.-a, n.d.-b). The 2001 date and the Prentice Hall imprint fit the fourth edition.
- Run the entry, ISBN included, through Verify references, which also needs no sign-in.
- Ask the module lead which edition the course uses, and buy or borrow that one.
What Verify references said
When a book is missing from the publishers' index, Verify references asks a library catalogue: it looks up an ISBN the entry gives, and compares a named edition with that edition's year. Runs of 24 September 2026:
| Entry sent | Verdict | Reason given |
|---|---|---|
| MIT's entry: 8th ed., 2001, ISBN 9780135228609 | Check this | "The ISBN belongs to a different book in a library catalogue, "Pearson eText for Manufacturing Engineering and Technology -- Access Card". Check the number." |
| MIT's entry without the ISBN: 8th ed., 2001 | Check this | "The catalogue dates the 4th edition 2001, not the 8th. Check the edition and year." |
| Corrected: Kalpakjian and Schmid, 2020, 8th ed., Pearson | Verified | "Title, author and year match a library catalogue record." |
| The same title as a 4th edition of 2001 | Verified | "Title, author, edition and year match a library catalogue record." |
| A test entry: 6th edition, 2001 | Check this | "The catalogue dates the 6th edition 2010, not 2001. Check the edition and year." |
| Chicago Manual, 15th ed., with MIT's ISBN 9780321115836 | Check this | "The ISBN belongs to a different book in a library catalogue, "Final cut pro 3 for Macintosh". Check the number." |
Check this is the doubtful verdict, a prompt to look again: here it flagged both wrong numbers, a wrong edition and a wrong year.
What if the edition I can get is not the one on the list?
Ask the module lead whether it will do, then cite the edition in your hands. APA's advice is to cite only the edition you used, because you cannot know a quotation is right in an edition you have not seen (McAdoo, 2021). Never alter the entry to look like the list's edition.
A different edition may number its pages, chapters and problems differently, so find each set reading by its heading. Read what changed before you switch: Pearson says Kalpakjian's ninth edition is fully updated and looks at manufacturing in light of climate change and the post-COVID world (Pearson, n.d.-b). For the eighth edition's e-text, Cite a source answered "No book is recorded under ISBN 9780135211427" and made nothing up, so this entry for the print book comes from Pearson's page:
Kalpakjian, S., & Schmid, S. (2020). Manufacturing engineering and technology (8th ed.). Pearson.
Ebooks, reprints and the other whole-book cases are in our guide to citing a book.
Where can I see every edition of a textbook together?
For settling an edition, the best tool is EdCitation's Library, because the trouble is scattered records: the MIT list printed one ISBN, and one title search in the Library returned 19 records for the same book, from Global and SI editions to access cards, each with its publisher, year and ISBN. Laid out together, a wrong number gives itself away.
What a Library card offers
A search takes a title, author, subject or ISBN; browsing takes one of 31 disciplines; filters take kind of book, language, length and year. Each result puts publisher and year beside its cover and authors, and marks it as readable in the Library or for sale. From there: a shop page for a paid copy, the libraries near you that hold one, a bookmark in My Books, or a reference in one click. A card gives the earliest year in its record, so trust the ISBN over the date.
What Max adds
Searching, saving to My Books, the shop links and the library holdings need only an EdCitation account, at no charge. Max adds reading and borrowing, at $24 monthly or $216 yearly, from a collection of more than 5 million books that EdCitation compiled for students and readers (Pricing).
More cases by subject: an ISBN from an older Perloff edition in economics textbooks, print and e-book numbers in law books, translations in philosophy books, SI editions in engineering textbooks.
Quick questions
Is an ISBN-10 the same as an ISBN-13?
Yes, for the same book. Put 978 before the first nine digits and recalculate the last: 0-321-11583-X becomes 978-0-321-11583-6.
How do I check the ISBN on my reading list?
Give it to EdCitation's Cite a source, which refuses a number with a wrong check digit and shows whose book a valid one is. Then compare edition, year and format with the list.
Can I use a Global Edition instead of the US edition?
Only if your module lead agrees. It has its own ISBN and may differ in title and pages: Wiley gives Callister's tenth edition 992 pages and its Global Edition 944.
Does a new printing count as a new edition?
No. A reprint with unchanged text keeps the edition and its ISBN; a significant revision is a new edition with a new number.
Which year do I cite for a textbook?
In APA 7, the newest year on the copyright page of the copy you read, even if the book went on sale earlier or later.
References
- American Psychological Association. (2020). Book/ebook references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references
- Biblio. (n.d.). What is a number line? Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/basics/what-is-a-number-line/
- Callister, W. D., Jr., & Rethwisch, D. G. (2018). Materials science and engineering: An introduction (10th ed.) [Front matter]. Wiley. https://catalogimages.wiley.com/images/db/pdf/9781119405405.toc.pdf
- Choi, H. A., & Kretsedemas, P. (2019). WGS.645 Gendering U.S. immigration policy: Sociopolitical, theological, and feminist perspectives [Syllabus, Spring 2019]. MIT OpenCourseWare. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/wgs-645-gendering-u-s-immigration-policy-sociopolitical-theological-and-feminist-perspectives-spring-2019/pages/syllabus/
- Chun, J.-H., & Ramos, J. (2025). 2.008 Design and manufacturing II [Syllabus, Spring 2025]. MIT OpenCourseWare. https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/2-008-design-and-manufacturing-ii-spring-2025/pages/syllabus/
- Goldstein, J. S., & Pevehouse, J. C. (2020). International relations, global edition (12th ed.). Pearson. https://www.pearson.com/en-gb/subject-catalog/p/Goldstein-International-Relations-Global-Edition-12th-Edition/P200000005229/9781292350349
- International ISBN Agency. (n.d.). What is an ISBN? Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.isbn-international.org/content/what-isbn/10
- International ISBN Agency. (2001). ISBN users' manual: International edition (4th ed., rev.). https://web.archive.org/web/20041206120120/http://www.isbn-international.org/en/userman/chapter4.html
- International ISBN Agency. (2017). ISBN users' manual: International edition (7th ed.). https://www.isbn-international.org/content/isbn-users-manual/29
- International ISBN Agency. (2018). ISBN FAQs. https://www.isbn-international.org/sites/default/files/ISBN_FAQs_to_7ed_Manual_Absolutely_final.docx
- McAdoo, T. (2021, February 8). Which edition of a book should you cite? APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/book-editions
- Pearson. (n.d.-a). Manufacturing engineering and technology (8th ed.). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/manufacturing-engineering-and-technology/P200000003217/9780135211427
- Pearson. (n.d.-b). Manufacturing engineering and technology (9th ed.). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/manufacturing-engineering-and-technology/P200000011629/9780138308476
- Pearson. (n.d.-c). Pearson eText Manufacturing engineering and technology: Access card (8th ed.). Archived January 17, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220117181846/https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Kalpakjian-Pearson-e-Text-Manufacturing-Engineering-and-Technology-Access-Card-8th-Edition/PGM2136100.html
- Southern Utah University. (2026). PHYS 2210-01: Physics for scientists and engineers I [Syllabus, Fall 2026]. https://my.suu.edu/syllabus/202630/PHYS-2210-01/
- Urone, P. P., & Hinrichs, R. (2022). College physics 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/college-physics-2e
- Wiley. (n.d.-a). Callister's materials science and engineering, global edition (10th ed.). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.wiley.com/en-ae/Callister%27s+Materials+Science+and+Engineering,+10th+Edition,+Global+Edition-p-9781119455202
- Wiley. (n.d.-b). Materials science and engineering: An introduction (10th ed.). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Materials+Science+and+Engineering%3A+An+Introduction%2C+10th+Edition-p-9781119405498