arXiv, and the scientific community at large, are facing a watershed moment. Scholarly publishing is changing rapidly, and with AI tools becoming more advanced, the “practical limit” of how many papers can be submitted is now up for debate. As of October 1st, 2026, arXiv is instituting an updated rate limiting policy across all submitters and categories as a stopgap while we determine new best practices.
Open access repositories are seeing a sharp increase in submissions per author. In September of 2016, arXiv received 9,869 submissions. In September of 2024, arXiv received 20,569 submissions. This September, arXiv received 40,363 submissions, generating almost 9,000 support tickets. In only the past two years, submissions have doubled.
Advanced AI tools are driving these increases. arXiv policy permits authors to employ AI as a tool if disclosed and the research meets standards. However, moderators observe an increase in thin papers and ‘salami’ papers. Increases over the past two years in cs.AI (over 6X increase) illustrate the rate of submissions.
arXiv now limits submitters to up to two submissions per calendar month, with a limit of three total active submissions. This policy update equitably distributes volunteer moderators’ time and protects the arXiv corpus. Thomas Dietterich, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Oregon State University and Chair of the arXiv Editorial Advisory Council, supports this move.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing