Encyclopaedia Britannica is going to halt its print publications and plans to go only on digital as part of its digital expansion.

With its latest move, the print publication of the Encyclopaedia Britannica will be coming to an end after 244 years.

"This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google," the Press Association quoted Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica as saying.

"This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people," he added.

Encyclopaedia Britannica began its print publication in 1768 in Scotland and it sold 120,000 sets in 1900.

However, by 1996, the number fell to 40,000 mainly because of the expansion of the internet.

Online services now contribute to nearly 85 percent of the firm's revenue which used to sell its books door-to-door.

"In many instances doing a keyword search in an online resource is simply a lot faster than standing up looking at the index of the Britannica and then finding the appropriate volume," the BBC has reported Richard Reyes-Gavilan of Brooklyn Public Library as saying.

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