arXiv Moderator Explains Four Reasons Papers Get Put On Hold as Researchers Complain of Delays

On October 31, arXiv moderator Thomas Dietterich posted a systematic explanation on X of how papers end up on hold, responding to criticism of arXiv's opaque review process. Around the same time, researcher amr sobhy (October 30) complained that nearly every one of his submissions gets held, often for months before release, arguing this defeats the purpose of rapid preprint dissemination and calling on arXiv to publish the criteria behind its hold mechanism.

Confirmed

• Dietterich's four main hold reasons: first, the classifier scores the author's chosen primary category poorly, so the system suggests a category and places the paper on hold; second, when moderators proactively propose changing the primary category, the paper is held pending resolution; third, the submission fails policy checks—course assignments, project proposals, surveys, and position papers all fall outside arXiv's acceptance criteria; fourth, first-time submissions, single-author papers, and independent researchers are more likely to be flagged for review.
• amr sobhy said from his own experience that almost every submission now gets held, often for months.

Why It Matters

• arXiv is core infrastructure for academic communication, and the hold mechanism directly affects how quickly research becomes visible. Dietterich's explanation offers the first systematic public account of moderator-side operations, helping authors understand why papers get held and avoid common pitfalls (e.g., picking the right primary category, not submitting surveys or position papers).
• But for independent researchers, identity alone triggers stricter scrutiny, and months-long processing times remain a real publication barrier—the transparency controversy is far from settled.

2026-10-30 ~ 2026-10-31 · 5 related posts

• [source] Researcher slams arXiv holds: every submission stuck for months, transparency demanded — amrsobhy · 2026-10-30
• [source] arXiv moderator explains the four main reasons papers get put on hold — tdietterich · 2026-10-31
• arXiv holds also trigger when a moderator proposes changing a paper's primary category — tdietterich · 2026-10-31
• arXiv policy checks reject class projects, proposals, surveys and position papers — tdietterich · 2026-10-31
• First-time single-author independent researchers are among papers most likely to be held on arXiv — tdietterich · 2026-10-31