arXiv caps submissions at two per month per author to curb AI paper flood

On October 2, 2026, a report from a Chinese tech publication said arXiv had introduced a new submission rule: each author may submit at most two papers per month, and rejected papers do not return the submission quota. The same report said switching sections would not allow users to bypass the limit.

Two days later, on October 4, 2026, Unite.AI reported that arXiv had announced the rate-limiting policy the previous week. Under the policy, submitters can submit no more than two papers per month. The stated aim is to address the review and quality pressures caused by AI-generated research submissions at scale. Unite.AI described the problem as worsening submission volume and signal-to-noise ratio, writing that AI now does everything at scale, from DOS-attack-level web scraping to producing or enabling such vast volumes of scientific research submissions that the result is both a logistical crisis and a quality crisis, with the signal-to-noise ratio becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.

The two accounts agree on the two-paper monthly cap. The earlier report describes the limit as applying to each author; the later report says submitters. The October 4 report says only that the announcement came 'last week,' without giving a specific date. At this point, the available information stops at arXiv having announced the policy; the supplied reports do not state when it takes effect or provide further implementation details.