arXiv Limits Submissions: No More Than Two per Month per Author
XORit Editorial · Sources, AI assistance and corrections
As of October 1, 2026, the preprint server arXiv has limited article submissions. A single author can now upload no more than two papers per calendar month, and can have no more than three active submissions at the same time. The limit applies across all scientific categories and to everyone who uploads a paper.
Growth in the Flow of Submissions
The reason was a sharp rise in the flow of submissions. In September 2026, arXiv received 40,363 papers — a record, and twice as many as in September 2024, when there were 20,569. In September 2016, the site received 9,869 papers. During that same month, staff and moderators received nearly nine thousand inquiries.
Among the drivers of the growth are advanced AI tools that speed up the preparation of texts. arXiv's rules permit using AI as an auxiliary tool if it is disclosed and the work meets scientific standards, but many new submissions do not meet these requirements. Moderators increasingly see narrow-scope papers with little content, "salami" publications that split one study into parts, and dense AI-written texts.
A small share of authors sends many weak papers and consumes a disproportionately large share of volunteer moderators' time. As a result, high-quality articles can wait days and weeks for review.
How the Limit Is Counted
The limit is counted by submissions, not by announced papers, so a rejected article also uses up an attempt. The restriction applies only to the person uploading the work and does not extend to co-authors. An article deleted before announcement does not count toward the limit. The rule on three active submissions has been in effect since 2024.
The new measures are described as temporary: arXiv is revising its approach to moderation and promises to monitor the effect, changing the rules as needed. The goal, according to the team, is to distribute volunteers' time more fairly and protect the archive from a flood of weak papers.
Image: Paul Ginsparg CC BY-SA 4.0 · License
Translation editor: Ловушкин А.
Source: blog.arxiv.org ↗