Quite often a change in title has no effect on the subject matter. Provided there have been no relevant changes in the subject vocabulary, the subject headings can simply be carried over to the new title.

For instance, the periodical Soviet studies in philosophy changed its name to Russian studies in philosophy. In the introduction to the renamed periodicals, the editors assure readers that "The title change reflects not a shift in content but simply the disappearance of the term "Soviet" from the world map. Even before the dissolution of the USSR, items selected for translation in this journal were drawn exclusively from Russian-language Soviet publications, though the authors were not always Russians ... " Thus, the subject headings Philosophy- -Periodicals and Philosophy, Russian- -Periodicals have been carried from the old record to the new.

In a more complicated example, two serials merged into a new serial which later took on the title of one of the earlier serials: Scale ship modeler and R/C race boats merged to become R/C model boats & racing, which later changes its name (by popular demand!) to Scale ship modeler. The record for Scale ship modeler (before the merger) has the heading: Ship models- -Periodicals. When the two serials merged, two headings were assigned to the new serial: Boats and boating- -Models- -Radio control- -Periodicals and Ship models- -Radio control- -Periodicals. From the publisher’s introduction, the cataloger determined that there was no change in content when the title reversed and thus, the same subject headings were carried over to the new record.

Because the scope of the earlier title was much narrower than the later title, the cataloger decided that new, broader headings were needed. Following are the headings assigned to the two titles:

Journal of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. Example:

Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. Example:

See also:

15.4. Strategies for streamlining subject analysis