Is it time to stop printing journals?

["Joseph Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

The measure of the viability of print journals is not when users 
say they no longer want it (How would they know?  No user 
invented the iPod).

The measure is when publishers either decline to acquire print 
rights from authors or license print rights to third parties, 
believing that there is no longer even a remote economic 
opportunity. This is the Old Economy notion of putting your money 
where your mouth is.  I am aware of no publisher that has done 
this in the core academic journals business, though there are 
examples of this in other publishing segments (e.g., industrial 
standards; see ANSI and IHS).

Interestingly, publishers do sometimes allow authors to retain 
digital rights and sometimes permit third parties to publish 
digitally (IRs, etc.).  The biases in the trading practices in 
this industry continue to be toward print.

--
Joe Esposito