diff --git a/journals/migrations/0048_auto_20171101_1028.py b/journals/migrations/0048_auto_20171101_1028.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e37643729343a94cc5e0d30fa1c3d49bc230c1fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/journals/migrations/0048_auto_20171101_1028.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Generated by Django 1.11.4 on 2017-11-01 09:28
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('journals', '0047_auto_20171101_0944'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterField(
+            model_name='journal',
+            name='issn',
+            field=models.CharField(blank=True, default='2542-4653', max_length=16),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/journals/models.py b/journals/models.py
index 50ed3c768deeb46ca1992e096f5edfbf2ffe869c..c226cfb25aa772d38c17b6f8ee7d62e06c6c042b 100644
--- a/journals/models.py
+++ b/journals/models.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class Journal(models.Model):
     name = models.CharField(max_length=100, choices=SCIPOST_JOURNALS, unique=True)
     doi_label = models.CharField(max_length=200, unique=True, db_index=True,
                                  validators=[doi_journal_validator])
-    issn = models.CharField(max_length=16, default='2542-4653')
+    issn = models.CharField(max_length=16, default='2542-4653', blank=True)
     active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
 
     objects = JournalManager()
diff --git a/journals/templates/journals/_base.html b/journals/templates/journals/_base.html
index 7dc0f9ba3fffc13d8171da648fb5bb50fed064ea..418f4fd5f49fcb0a8c0cb1cab9385587cb2b70fa 100644
--- a/journals/templates/journals/_base.html
+++ b/journals/templates/journals/_base.html
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
         <div class="row my-1">
             <div class="col-12">
                 {% if journal.active %}
-                    <p>{{journal}} is published by the SciPost Foundation under the journal doi: 10.21468/{{journal.name}} and ISSN {{journal.issn}}.</p>
+                    <p>{{journal}} is published by the SciPost Foundation under the journal doi: 10.21468/{{journal.name}}{% if journal.issn %} and ISSN {{journal.issn}}{% endif %}.</p>
                 {% endif %}
 		{% if journal.doi_label == 'SciPostPhys' %}
 		    <p>SciPost Physics has been awarded the DOAJ Seal <img src="{% static 'scipost/images/DOAJ_Seal_logo_big.png' %}" alt="DOAJ Seal" width="40"> from the <a href="https://doaj.org">Directory of Open Access Journals</a></p>