According to reports, the newspaper is set to switch format following a meeting of Scotsman Publications executives, including publisher Andrew Neil and chief executive Steven Walker, to ratify the decision.

A timescale for the move has not been announced.

The paper, which is printed at Caledonian Offset in Edinburgh, took its Saturday edition tabloid in March this year.

At the time, the newspaper said that tabloid editions of The Times and The Independent had "clearly whetted readers' appetites for change north of the border."

The latest ABC figures, for June, show a weekday circulation of 60,285, down 2.4% year on year.

The Scotsman belongs to Press Holdings, the Barclay brothers company which bought the Telegraph Group last Friday for 665m.

The Scotsman and Caledonian Offset were unavailable for comment this afternoon.