What to send an endorser

You've found someone who might endorse you (see How to find an endorser the right way). What you send them makes a big difference. A clear, short, complete request respects their time and lets them do what arXiv asks of 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. quickly.

ResearchGuild is independent and not affiliated with arXiv. This is practical advice based on arXiv's public guidance, not an official arXiv procedure.

What an endorser needs to decide

arXiv's 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. page says an endorser should know the person they endorse or see the paper the person intends to submit. They aren't expected to read the paper in detail or verify it's correct, but they should check that it's appropriate for the subject area. arXiv also says they should not endorse if the author seems unfamiliar with the basic facts of the field, or if the work is entirely disconnected from current work in the area.

So your message should make those checks easy.

The essentials

1. Who you are. Name, current role (student, independent researcher, engineer), and institution if you have one.
2. Why them. One sentence on why their work relates to yours. This shows you're not mass-emailing.
3. The paper. Title, a short 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., and the manuscript itself (or a link). arXiv notes you may include a copy of your intended submission if you're comfortable doing so.
4. 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.. The primary categoryPrimary categoryThe single category that best fits a paper's main contribution. It decides which endorsement you need and where the paper is announced. you've chosen (see Choosing your primary category).
5. The endorsement request. The link and code from arXiv's endorsement request email (see Getting your endorsement code).
6. A scholarly profile, optionally. arXiv's guidance says you may include a link to your ORCIDORCID iDA free, persistent identifier for researchers, like 0000-0002-1825-0097, that links you to your work. Optional here. or another scholarly profile.
7. An easy "no". Say plainly that it's fine to decline or not reply.

Make the paper easy to assess

Before sending, check that:

• the title and abstract say concretely what you did;
• the related-work section cites recent, relevant work, showing you know the field;
• figures and references render correctly;
• if the paper has a non-English original, the full English version comes first (see English-language requirement);
• if you used generative AI tools significantly, the paper reports that, as arXiv's policy on such tools asks. arXiv also says AI tools cannot be listed as authors, and that authors take full responsibility for all content.

Running our readiness check first can catch many of these.

A template

Subject: arXiv endorsement request – [short paper title] ([category])

Dear Dr. [Name],

I'm [your name], a [role] at [institution, or "an independent researcher"]. I'm preparing my first arXiv submission and I'm writing to you because your paper "[their paper]" is the closest prior work to mine.

My paper, "[title]", [one-sentence summary of your contribution]. I plan to submit it to [category]. The manuscript is attached / available here: [link].

If you're willing to look at it and feel it is appropriate for the area, arXiv's endorsement link is [link] and my code is [code]. My ORCID is [link].

I completely understand if you don't have time or would prefer not to. Thank you for considering it.

Best regards, [Name]

What not to include

• Long life stories or pleas.
• Multiple papers at once, unless asked.
• Attachments in unusual formats; a PDF is easiest.
• Requests for a detailed review. Endorsement isn't peer reviewPeer reviewFormal evaluation of a paper by independent experts, usually organised by a journal or conference, before it is accepted for publication. arXiv moderation and endorsement are not peer review., and asking for more than that can put people off. If you want detailed feedback, ask for it separately.

After you send it

• Send once. arXiv says it's inappropriate to repeatedly email the same endorser.
• Accept silence. If there's no reply, move on respectfully rather than following up many times.
• Don't ask how they voted. arXiv says whether someone endorsed you is private between them and arXiv's administrators.

On ResearchGuild

On ResearchGuild you share your paper with reviewers who have opted in, and only the people you share with can see it. Your manuscript is deleted 30 days after your paper closes. Start a paper to request feedback, and read Giving useful pre-submission feedback to see what reviewers look for.