Hi Herb - it depends on different contexts I suppose. It's a bit like asking 'will e-readers replace hard texts?' I believe that there might well come a time when that is the case - but not yet. For instance, there are 'magazine-style' journals that are considered 'academic' and are available in bookstores. Professional organisations often have a journal associated with that organisation and prefer to send out paper-based versions. I presented at a conference yesterday where part of the conference pack were journals related to the sponsor organisations. Most universities still have large libraries that stock paper-based journals. I've published several books. When I see the sales reports - e-versions of the text only sell a small fraction of the overall sales still. Even if journals do go fully online, trends are often cyclical i.e. the increasing popularity of rejuvenating vinyl records of late.

Dear Dean:

Traditions are hard to change, so yes old habits will be a long time dying.

I expect libraries will cut back on expensive journal subscriptions as they respond to university administrators continue to move to 'Bottom-Line' business models.

Meanwhile, academics desire citations to drive their career advancements and this is easier when most are all reading the same paper journals. I expect these too, to be cut back as research funds also dry up - except for military funded work.

[see attached].

Journals should still maintain paper editions and archives, in case of a major Carrington event that wipes out our electronic records:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
• https://www.businessinsider.com.au/massive-1859-solar-storm-telegraph-scientists-2017-5?r=US&IR=T

Hi Herb and Karl,

Universities have long looked at expensive subscriptions and, in my experience, they soon cancel them if the usage doesn't warrant it. I suppose that makes sense. Why subscribe, if no-one really uses it? The 'business hard-copy model' would be hard to maintain purely on the premise that the online model might have a temporary collapse though.

Hi,

It is possible to publish academic freely on the internet, if you can give up the validity and reliability of the paper, and if it is not necessary to review it and comment on its format and content.

E-journals have appeared in many scientific fields as an alternative to paper based journals, and it appears to be the major medium in which we will distribute scientific information in the future. Initially, permanence of the publications was a problem, but now solved through DOI. (Digital Object Identifier). As most e-journals are published in pdf format, anybody can take a printout too, if they want. Most of these types are available free on the Internet (Open Access Journals), while some others can be subscribed ‘online’ by paying fees.

Most university libraries only buy ONE copy of each issue of most journals so this becomes a bottleneck when several university staff members wish to check out its 'Table of Contents' (all most researchers claim they have time for). Worse if one takes the copy out for a while (only way for librarians to track its usage) then even fewer busy researchers will bother to wait for its return: is there a Wait-List?

PS How do librarians track journal-usage when one is only examined "in situ"?

PPS How do we audit how many universities subscribe to a particular journal?

Dear Karl:

Who would survive a Carrington Event to read academic journals?

I can only suggest Government Scientists who hide in the secret 'Funk-Holes' along with their bureaucratic 'protectors'.

I believe that, in the UK, at least, the attraction of a subscription to a journal that was published on paper was tax related – the purchase of a print plus electronic subscription attracted lower tax than an electronic subscription alone. This situation hopefully no longer exists, but I would suggest that tax incentives are a very poor reason to distribute paper copies of journals.

On a more positive note, I would suggest that "coffee table copies" of leading journals encourage wider reading, which is surely a beneficial distraction.

Dear Suzy:

Interesting but tell us why you write/read for hardcopy academic journals.

PS Surely, you read this sad history of a recent female physics researcher

struggling to survive in the Old Boys Club called academic Physics?

Herb Spencer Typical, Herb. You automatically assume that academic journals are only for scientists and only scientists do research. Most people wouldn't necessarily die as a result of a Carrington event, but all electronic records could be irretrievably corrupted if the event is severe enough. There is a vast treasure trove of humanities journals and books in electronic form that could be lost if not backed up with paper copies.

I am not sure how your response relates to the original question, but it seems churlish not to respond. I read papers: (1) for my job as editor-in-chief of a broad scope physics journal, (2) as an author of papers taking an overview of physics/science, and (3) in preparation for talks at conferences (also addressing broad topics).

I think major academic publishers such as Elsevier now prefer to ignore paper versions of the journals and they only issue hard copies if demanded by authors, librarians etc.

Suzy Lidstrom

Dear Suzy:

Thanks for your honest reply: it's your job. This seems to be the only reason left for so many people to be doing "research" at universities; where most should just focus on teaching instead of this pseudo-intellectual activity called 'Research'.

Their promotions should be based on qualitative teaching ability not quantitative citations (a pseudo-objective "Measure").