arXiv: two submissions a month
On 1 October 2026 arXiv announced in its blog that every submitter may now make at most two new submissions per calendar month and have at most three active submissions at once, in all categories. The rule is a stopgap 'while we determine what may be the new best practice' for authors using advanced AI tools; the reason given is 40,363 submissions in September 2026.
Why it matters
Until now limits on submissions were mostly left to moderators' discretion; now there is one rule for everyone, which arXiv ties explicitly to a flood of AI-assisted text. A rejected submission counts too, so the limit falls on moderators' workload, not on the amount published.
What is said. By arXiv's account there were 9,869 submissions in September 2016, 20,569 in September 2024 and 40,363 in September 2026, which produced almost 9,000 support tickets; submissions in cs.AI rose more than six times in two years, in other categories they doubled. Moderators, arXiv writes, see more thin papers of narrow scope, 'salami' papers (one work split into several) and dense AI-written papers. The limit: two new submissions per calendar month and three active at any time. What counts is a submission, not an announced paper: a rejected one counts; one deleted before announcement does not; submissions still on hold from the previous month do not count against the new month's limit but do count among the three active; a paper with co-authors counts only for whoever submitted it. The three-active limit has been in force since 2024. The moderation help page adds: replacements are limited to one a week after version 5, and arXiv may ask a particular author to submit even less often. What the record does not claim. The post does not say how updated versions of papers will be counted, how many authors are affected or how compliance is checked; the readers' comments under it were not used. arXiv calls the rule temporary and promises to monitor the effect and change it as needed.