Dates and issue numbers:
Dates and issue numbers are there to assist the reader. They are there so you can see what date it is and what issue it is, but they are also there if you need to look back at a past issue. If one of the readers need to refer back to a past issue as it has something of relevance in then they can just look back through the issue numbers and find it. They are also there because some magazines ask readers to write in and say what they think of the past issue so when they put the opinions in to the magazine the readers can understand what they are talking about, also it helps the magazine editors to improve the future issues.