How do you cite ISIC Rev. 5 correctly?

A correct citation names the classification, the revision and the custodian together, for example ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division, so that a reader knows exactly which version of the structure was used. A bare code number without a version label is ambiguous, because the same digits can mean different things in Rev. 4 and Rev. 5. Good practice in a table or a methods note is to state the revision once, clearly, and to repeat it whenever codes from different revisions appear together.

Why must classification, revision and custodian travel together?

A correct citation names the classification, the revision and the custodian together, for example ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division, so that a reader knows exactly which version of the structure was used. Each element does work the others cannot. The classification name tells the reader which system of categories is meant, as opposed to a product classification, an occupation classification or a national variant. The revision tells the reader which edition of that system, because categories, definitions and boundaries move between editions. The custodian tells the reader where the authoritative structure lives, so the citation can be verified rather than merely believed. Drop any one element, and the citation becomes a hint instead of a reference.

The cost of dropping the revision is the easiest to demonstrate. A bare code number without a version label is ambiguous, because the same digits can mean different things in Rev. 4 and Rev. 5. A reader who finds such a bare number in an old table, a slide or a dataset cannot know which meaning was intended, and any comparison built on it rests on a guess. Naming the revision removes the guess. Naming it once, clearly, in a table or a methods note, and repeating it whenever codes from different revisions appear together, turns a fragile number into a checkable claim.

How does a citation survive the journey from survey to chart?

Inside a statistical office, a citation is not a decorative footnote. It is the thread that holds a chain together. The survey questionnaire asks about activity in words, the coding manual turns those words into categories, and the published table presents the results under category titles. ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division, provides the shared reference for all three stages, so the coder, the analyst and the reader work from the same structure. The citation, carried as a version label, must travel with the data at every stage, from the first coding decision to the final chart, because a lost label is how cross-revision errors enter an otherwise careful analysis. A chart stripped of its citation may look authoritative while being impossible to verify, and a reader who reuses it will spread the unverifiability further with every quotation.

What does a reader check, step by step, before trusting a cited figure?

A reader’s check mirrors the compiler’s discipline, but in reverse. Start from the activity described in words, then move through the hierarchy from broad to fine, checking each level against the UNSD structure for ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division. Working through citing ISIC Rev. 5 level by level, ask whether the definition still fits, whether an excludes list redirects the activity, and whether a finer level adds meaningful detail. Where any level leaves the answer unclear in citing ISIC Rev. 5, keep to the broader level that is clearly correct and note the question, rather than picking a fine category that cannot be justified from the evidence available. That walk tests the citation itself: a genuine Rev. 5 citation should survive it, with each level’s definition fitting the activity as described, while a mislabelled or mixed-revision figure will usually snag somewhere along the way, at a definition that no longer fits or an excludes list that points elsewhere.

What belongs in a methods note about citation?

A methods note should make the citation unmissable and the level explicit, and it should flag any break in series where revisions meet. Points worth keeping in view:

• Start from the activity in words, not from a code remembered from an earlier revision.
• Read the explanatory note before settling on a category, especially where two titles look similar.
• Keep the version label, ISIC Rev. 5, UN Statistics Division, with any code that leaves your notes.
• Where detail cannot be justified, report at the broader level that is clearly correct.
• Note any break in series when figures from different revisions appear in one comparison.
• Repeat the revision label whenever codes from different revisions appear together, so no column is left to inference.

This guide is about citing a statistical classification correctly. It does not determine a code, a principal activity or a registration for any reader, and a specific record’s code should be confirmed with the national statistical institute or business register that holds the record.