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To submit an article

Everyone who submits should read the following general information:

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.

The availability of new submissions is explained below, in the section on availability of submissions and announcement order (policy change 2010-03). 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 (versions prior to Word 2007) 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:

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 (unsubmit icon) 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 16:00 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 16:00 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:

Availability of submissions and announcement order

Note: policy change 2010-03 regarding announcement order and the effect of edits.

Submissions to arXiv are normally announced on a daily schedule, with no activity scheduled on weekends (check current local time at the main site).

Example: A submission made on Monday before 16:00 (US Eastern time, EDT/EST) will be publicly available on the web after 20:00 (US Eastern time, EDT/EST) on that day, and will appear in the Tuesday AM regular subject mailing.

Example: A submission made on Friday before 16:00 (US Eastern time, EDT/EST) will be publicly available after 20:00 (US Eastern time, EDT/EST) of the following Sunday, and will appear in the Monday AM regular subject mailing.

Example: A submission made on Friday at or after 16:00 (US Eastern time, EDT/EST) will be publicly available after 20:00 (US Eastern time, EDT/EST) of the following Monday, and will appear in the Tuesday AM regular subject mailing.

Submissions are assigned identifiers and appear in the listings in order based on the submission time (the last time the "Submit" button was selected at the end of the submission process). An edit and subsequent "Submit" will reset this time and thus change position in the listings. Edits are permitted between 16:00 and the 20:00 announcement time. However, doing this will remove the submission from that day's announcements and delay it until the next day.