Attention Authors: updated endorsement policy

arXiv has updated our endorsement policy. As of January 21, 2026, arXiv will no longer accept institutional email addresses (i.e., an email address associated with an academic or research institution) as the sole qualifier of endorsement for new authors. This policy update is being made to support the arXiv community (authors, readers, volunteer moderators, and staff) by stemming the flood of low-quality, non-scientific submissions to arxiv.org.

Endorsement for new submitters in all categories will now follow two paths. The first path requires both 1) an institutional email address from an academic/research institution and 2) previous authorship on an existing paper which has been accepted to the arXiv “endorsement domain”* they wish to submit to (see paper ownership). New submitters who cannot meet these requirements can pursue the second path, which is seeking personal endorsement directly from an established arXiv author in the same endorsement domain.

I have questions about this policy update / getting endorsed.

This is a significant change for many arXiv authors. You can read below for more about why arXiv has made this update and how this will affect your submission. If you still have questions, comments, or concerns after reading, please fill out our Endorsement Policy Feedback Form.

arXiv staff cannot waive endorsement requirements or provide a personal endorsement for authors. The feedback form is the best way to get in contact with arXiv about endorsement issues.

What does this update mean for researchers wishing to submit to arXiv?

Authors who were previously endorsed to submit to a particular category will still be endorsed in that category. This policy update will mostly affect new submitters — arXiv authors who are submitting to a category for the first time.

Because new submitters to an arXiv category need both an institutional email address AND previous authorship on an existing paper in the endorsement domain of the category they wish to submit to, the following are best practices for new authors hoping to get endorsed via the first endorsement path:

• If you are affiliated with an academic or research institution, make sure your arXiv account is connected to your academic or research email.
• If you have co-authored a paper or papers that have been accepted to arXiv, claim ownership of your paper(s).
  • For automatic endorsement, the paper(s) you own must be in the endorsement domain that the category you wish to submit to is in. If you have co-authored several papers, it is recommended that you claim ownership of all of them and keep your arXiv account as up-to-date as possible.

If you are a new submitter who meets BOTH of the requirements of the first endorsement path, you will likely be able to submit without taking any further action.

If you are a new submitter who does not meet BOTH of the requirements, you must follow the second path and seek personal endorsement. Our help pages go into detail on how to seek personal endorsement from an advisor, colleague, or arXiv author with endorsement privileges. arXiv staff are not able to personally endorse arXiv authors.

What is endorsement and why is arXiv updating the endorsement policy?

Endorsement (in one form or another) has always been a requirement to submit to arXiv. arXiv’s mission is to advance science by providing a place for the scientific community to freely and quickly share and discover relevant scientific research, and arXiv authors are expected to be scientists with expertise in their field.

Endorsement is how arXiv determines that a potential arXiv author is a research scientist and has relevant research to share. When arXiv was small, all endorsements were personal endorsements – one scientist personally vouching for another. As we grew, most arXiv sections automatically endorsed first-time submitters as long as they had an affiliation to an academic or research institute. arXiv felt this was a fair way to allow new researchers to submit to arXiv while still preserving the corpus and maintaining a standard of scientific integrity. However in recent years, arXiv has received an unsustainable increase in the number of non-scientific submissions, increasing the rejection rate and requiring excessive moderation and staff effort. Because of this, we have determined that institutional email addresses are no longer a sufficient credential for determining minimum research competence or endorsement.

arXiv first rolled out a similar endorsement update across the arXiv Math section in December 2025, which you can read about in our previous blog.

arXiv was built for scientists, by scientists, and endorsement is not a guarantee. Endorsement is reserved for members of the scientific community with expertise in their field. Endorsement can also be revoked if an author violates arXiv policies or the arXiv code of conduct.

How can I help first-time authors submit to arXiv?

The arXiv endorsement process ensures a sustainable and fair way for scientists to help arXiv determine who is a member of good standing in the scientific community by vouching for the scientific work of first-time submitters. Want to know how you can help by endorsing new authors in your field? Learn about endorsement, and how to find out if you have endorsement privileges.

Thank you to our scientific community for supporting us in this policy update. We rely on you to help us keep arXiv open and free, and to help us make sure submissions to arXiv are scientifically rigorous and of interest to the community.

* “Endorsement domains” are high-level subject areas or related categories on arXiv. Endorsement domains have been chosen to reflect related subject areas and ensure that it will be easy for people to seek personal endorsement from authors in their field. Most high-level subject areas (e.g., hep-th, cond-mat, q-bio) are currently endorsement domains, with the notable exception of physics, in which individual subject classes (e.g., phys.acc-phys, phys.med-ph) are endorsement domains.