UN Document Symbols & Series Symbols

Each UN document has a unique symbol at the top corner of the document, on the front or back cover, or on a title page.

All language versions of a document have the same symbol.

Symbols include both letters and numbers. Some elements of the symbol have meaning, while other elements do not.

In general, the symbol does not indicate the topic of the document.

First component

The first component indicates the organ to which the document is submitted or the organ that is issuing the document.

Some bodies have a special series symbol that does not reflect the parent organ. For example:

Second component

Secondary and tertiary components indicate subsidiary bodies:

Special components

Special components reflect the nature of the document:

Final component

The final component reflects modifications to the original text:

Session or year component

Many document symbols include sessional or year components following the body elements.

In 1976 the General Assembly began the practice of including the session information in all document symbols. Before 1976, this information was not included in most document symbols. Session information appeared in Roman numerals in parentheses after the symbol for resolutions only. After 1976, other organs adopted similar practices.

Subsidiary bodies generally follow the practice of the parent organ.

A more exhaustive list of symbols can be found in ST/LIB/SER.B/5/Rev.5, United Nations Document Series Symbols, 1946-1996.

UN document series symbols are a repeated pattern at the beginning of a symbol. They are assigned to:

• UN documents created by or for a particular UN body, or
• UN publications issued in a series
  • UN publications may have additional identifiers such as UN Sales Number, ISBN, ISSN, DOI, and/or library call number

Series symbols have various patterns.

UN body series symbols usually have:

• First symbol component: indicating parent organ
• Second component: type of subsidiary and number
• Additional symbol components may include:
  • sub-subsidiary bodies
  • year/session
  • type of document
• example: Human Rights Commission, Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (1947-2006)
  • E/-- = Economic and Social Council (parent organ)
  • E/CN.4/-- = Human Rights Commission (subsidiary of Economic and Social Council)
  • E/CN.4/Sub.2/-- = Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (subsidiary of Human Rights Commission)
  • E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/--: 2004 session of the Subcommission
  • E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/NGO/--: NGO submission to the 2004 session of the Subcommission
  • E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/SR.--: Summary Record of meeting of 2004 session of the Subcommission
  • E/CN.4/Sub.2/L.308/Add.1/Rev.1/Corr.1 : Correction to a Revision of an Addendum to a draft document of the Subcommission

UN serial publications series symbols usually have:

• First symbol component(s): issuing body series symbol
• Additional component possible for serials: /SER. /--
• example: Yearbook of the International Law Commission
  • A/-- = General Assembly (parent organ)
  • A/CN.4/-- = International Law Commission (subsidiary of General Assembly)
  • A/CN.4/SER.A/-- = Yearbook of the International Law Commission (series issued by the International Law Commission)
• example: Monthly Bulletin of Statistics
  • ST/-- = Secretariat
  • ST/ESA/-- = Department of Economic and Social Affairs
  • ST/ESA/STAT/-- = Statistics Division 
  • ST/ESA/STAT/SER.Q/-- = Monthly Bulletin of Statistics (series issued by the Statistics Division)

Arabic: رموز وثائق الأمم المتحدة

Chinese: 文号

English: Elements of UN Document Symbols

French: Cote des documents de l'ONU

Russian: Условные обозначения документов ООН

Spanish: Signaturas de documentos de las Naciones Unidas

*note: translations are from the UN Documentation Overview guide, which was revised in English in 2022. The UN Document Symbols guide will be translated as resources permit in due course.