Ask Us! National University Library

arXiv is an open archive for scholarly articles maintained and operated by Cornell University. Submissions to arXiv are subject to a moderation process that classifies material as topical to the subject area and has scholarly value. However, material is not peer-reviewed by arXiv.

Therefore, you would need to evaluate each arXiv resource individually as to whether or not it appropriate for use in your course assignments, research papers, and dissertation. Look for clearly defined research questions, a literature review, a mixed-methods research design, results/discussion, study limitations, and extensive references--all components of empirical research.

Additionally, you can investigate the article authors on Google Scholar to determine if they have written related works on the topic. In this way, you may consider if they are authorities in the field. For instructions on how to locate author profiles in Google Scholar, see our guide here.

Finally, please check with your Professor or Dissertation Chair if there is any doubt regarding what is permitted for use. They may have further resource restrictions for your assignments, papers, and dissertation.