To submit an article
Everyone who submits should read the following general information:
- We accept submissions only from registered authors.
- Submitters must grant arXiv.org a non-exclusive and irrevocable license to distribute or certify that the work is available under another license that conveys these rights.
- Formats for text submission
- Formats for figures
- File names and case sensitivity
- Inclusion of data sets and ancillary files (data, programs, etc.)
- Title/Abstract preparation
- Check your submission and read messages
- Edit or replace your article if necessary
- Take responsibility
- Special instructions for third party submission and index submissions for conference proceedings
Please note that we do not accept submissions with omitted figures, tables or sections. We also do not accept "abstract only" submissions. Such submissions are unhelpful to readers and of very limited archival value.
- To submit an article, use the Submit form or select "START NEW SUBMISSION" from your user page.
The availability of new submissions is explained below, in the section on availability of submissions and announcement order (policy change 2017-01). Note further that all official versions of submitted articles are made publicly available. See the discussion of submission version availability.
Formats for text of submission
Your submission to the archive must be in one of the following formats (listed in order of preference):
Our goal is to store articles in formats which are highly portable and stable over time. Currently, the best choice is TeX/LaTeX, because this open format does not hide information. Note that for this and other reasons we will not accept dvi, PS, or PDF created from TeX/LaTeX source. Users of word processors such as Microsoft Word should save their documents as PDF and submit that. Note also that we will not accept scanned documents, regardless of format.
Formats for figures
Figures for a submission can be in a number of common formats. These include:
- PostScript (PS/EPS, most common for line drawings, plots, etc.)
- JPEG (ideal for photographic images)
- GIF or PNG (best for non-photographic images, bitmaps)
- PDF figures (only with PDFLaTeX)
If figure files are too large, then readers with poor network connections will not be able to download them. Remember that arXiv has many users with poor network connections (such as users in some developing nations). If your submission has a large figure, be sure to include it, but make all possible efforts to reduce its size. Note that we do not accept submissions with omitted figures, even if you provide a link to another server. See our information on submission sizes and our bitmapping help for more information. If you have problems with a large submission, contact arXiv administrators.
If you submit figures with your (La)TeX source, use standard macro packages (e.g., the graphics and graphicx packages) so that the figures will appear in the document. Unfortunately, arXiv administration cannot provide help with TeX-related issues, so seek help from your colleagues if necessary.
File names and case sensitivity
arXiv will accept only the following characters in file names:
a-z A-Z 0-9 _ + - . , = The presence of any other character (e.g. spaces, question marks, asterisks, etc.) will cause the system to reject the file upload or submission. These restrictions ensure maximum portability of the stored files and minimize archival risk.
File names and extensions are also case sensitive on our system.
The file names Figure1.PDF and figure1.pdf
are not the same. Whether your local system is case sensitive (e.g. Unix)
or not (e.g. Windows) you must ensure that internal file references
such as LaTeX figure inclusion commands match case exactly.
Inclusion of data sets and ancillary files
There are limited facilities for including data sets and ancillary files (data, programs, etc.) which are associated with articles submitted to arXiv. See separate instructions about including data sets and ancillary files.
Title/Abstract preparation
See separate instructions on the preparation of separate title/abstract information. This information is used on the abstract pages, in announcements, in RSS feeds, and to support searching.
Check your submission and read messages
Before you make the final "Submit Article" step in the submission process be sure to check carefully both the title/abstract (metadata) and the processed files. If you see any errors or are unhappy with the formatting then correct them or contact arXiv administrators if there are problems you cannot resolve.
If discover an error after submission but before public
announcement then select the Unsubmit
(
) icon
next to the submission on your user page
to return it to the incomplete status
allowing modification and later resubmission. Unsubmitting an article
takes the article out of the processing queue and announcement
will be scheduled based on the later resubmission time.
In general, each day's submissions before 14:00 US Eastern Time (EDT/EST) Monday through Friday are not made available to the general public until 20:00 US Eastern Time (EDT/EST) Sunday through Thursday. See the discussion of availability.
Edit or replace your article if necessary
Edits before an article is publicly announced will not generate additional versions. The date stamp associated with the submission will be the time that the final "Submit Article" step is completed. Edits and final submission before 14:00 US Eastern Time (EDT/EST) Monday through Friday will not delay announcement. You may wish to check current local time at main site.
We encourage authors to update and to make corrections in their articles. DO NOT make a new submission for a corrected article or for an erratum. Rather replace the original submission.
Take responsibility
Because putting articles on arXiv entails certain responsibilities, authors must make their own submissions. Third-party submissions (by secretaries for example) are often the ones that cause the most problems, presumably due to lack of self-interest and related factors.
The following information is also required for submission:
- Institutional affiliation for the author(s) must be provided.
- Official report number(s) from the author(s) institution(s) must be provided.
Availability of submissions and announcement order
Note: policy change 2017-01 regarding announcement order and the effect of edits.
Submissions to arXiv are normally made public on Sunday through Thursday, with no announcements Friday or Saturday. Check the current time at the arXiv main site, with the amount of time remaining before the "freeze".
| Submissions Received Between (all times Eastern US) |
Will Be Announced (all times Eastern US) |
Mailed to Subscribers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday 14:00 - Tuesday 14:00 | Tuesday 20:00 | Tuesday Night / Wednesday Morning | |
| Tuesday 14:00 - Wednesday 14:00 | Wednesday 20:00 | Wednesday Night / Thursday Morning | |
| Wednesday 14:00 - Thursday 14:00 | Thursday 20:00 | Thursday Night / Friday Morning | |
| Thursday 14:00 - Friday 14:00 | Sunday 20:00 | Sunday Night / Monday Morning | |
| Friday 14:00 - Monday 14:00 | Monday 20:00 | Monday Night / Tuesday Morning | |
