How to find an endorser the right way

Since January 2026, most first-time authors need a personal endorsementEndorsementA statement, made on arXiv's own form by an established arXiv author, that you are someone who can reasonably contribute to a subject area. It is not peer review and doesn't guarantee acceptance. from an established arXiv author (see What is arXiv endorsement?). Finding that person can feel intimidating, especially if you're studying independently or your institution doesn't have many arXiv authors. This article covers what arXiv recommends, what it warns against, and how ResearchGuild fits in.

ResearchGuild is independent and not affiliated with arXiv. We can't endorse you or speed up arXiv's processes.

Start with people who know you

arXiv's endorsement page says endorsersEndorserAn arXiv author who is eligible to endorse in a subject area, which depends on their own recent papers there. On ResearchGuild, endorsers are volunteers who opt in to read abstracts. should either know the person they endorse or see the paper that person intends to submit. The easiest endorsements come from people who already know you and your work.

arXiv specifically suggests that for graduate students, a good choice is your thesis advisor or another professor in your department or institution working in your field who is also an active arXiv author.

Other people who may already know your work:

• a co-author on a previous paper, poster or thesis;
• a researcher you've worked with in a lab, internship or summer school;
• a lecturer who supervised a relevant project;
• someone who has given you feedback on this paper before.

Use arXiv's own tools

If no one in your network is eligible, arXiv suggests looking at your own references:

1. Find recent arXiv papers you cite. People who wrote closely related work are the most relevant potential endorsers.
2. Check who can endorse. At the bottom of every arXiv abstractAbstractA short summary of a paper: the problem, what you did and what you found. On ResearchGuild, only the abstract is shown until you choose who reads the full paper. page is a link titled "Which authors of this paper are endorsers?"
3. Find contact details on the abstract page. arXiv notes that the submitter's email can be found under the "Submission history" heading.

Be selective. Choose one person whose work is genuinely closest to yours, not everyone on the list.

What not to do

arXiv is clear about a few things:

• Don't mass-email. arXiv says it is inappropriate to email large numbers of potential endorsers at once.
• Don't nag. arXiv also says it is inappropriate to repeatedly email the same endorser with a request.
• Don't harvest addresses. arXiv's privacy page says email addresses collected from arXiv data must not be abused for unsolicited emailing or other forms of spam, and that viewing many addresses in a short time can lead to an irrevocable block on viewing further addresses.

Beyond arXiv's rules, a few courtesy points:

• Don't post your endorsement codeEndorsement codeA short code arXiv gives you when it asks for an endorsement. An endorser enters it on arXiv's form to endorse you. Here it stays hidden until a reviewer has opened your full paper. publicly asking strangers to endorse you.
• Don't offer anything in exchange for an endorsement.
• Don't pressure someone who hasn't replied. Silence is an answer.

Remember that endorsers can also record that they do not wish to endorse you, and arXiv says positive endorsements need to outnumber negative ones. Sending your request to people who aren't a good fit can work against you.

A good, single request

When you contact one potential endorser:

• introduce yourself in two or three sentences;
• say why you chose them specifically (for example, "your 2025 paper on X is the closest prior work to mine");
• include your paper, abstract and target categoryCategory (subject class)arXiv's topic label for a paper, such as cs.AI (Artificial Intelligence) or cs.CL (Computation and Language). Moderators and readers use it to route and find papers.;
• include the endorsement link and code from arXiv's email;
• make it easy to say no.

See What to send an endorser for a template.

How ResearchGuild helps

ResearchGuild was built to replace cold-emailing with something fairer for both sides:

• Endorsers opt in. Researchers on ResearchGuild have chosen to review and possibly endorse first-time authors. You're not interrupting someone who never asked.
• Few reviewers at once. Each author can have at most a few reviewers on their paper at a time. That protects reviewers' time and keeps the process from turning into a mass request.
• Feedback first. Reviewers look at your paper and give feedback. Any endorsement is the reviewer's own decision, recorded on arXiv's form.
• Your manuscript stays private. It's only visible to the people you share it with.

You can start a paper, and use the readiness check to make sure your draft is in good shape before a reviewer sees it.

Be patient and keep improving

If a reviewer or endorser says your paper isn't ready, that's useful information. Ask what would help, revise, and try again later. Good preparation matters more than how many people you contact.