It can be said that digital editions follow a digital paradigm, just as printed editions have been following a paradigm that was shaped by the technical limitations and cultural practices of typography and book printing. With the mere digitisation of printed material, the implications of a truly digital paradigm cannot be realised.

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A digitised edition is not a digital edition.

As long as the contents and functionalities of a typographically born and typographically envisioned edition do not really change with the conversion to digital data, we should not call these derivate editions ‘digital’. It is the conceptual framework that makes the thing—not the method of storage of the information either on paper or as bits and bytes. We can make this more productive in a more definitional manner by stating that:

A digital edition cannot be given in print without significant loss of content and functionality.

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Scholarly digital editions are scholarly editions that are guided by a digital paradigm in their theory, method and practice.