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This is a follow-up to the question Posting to ArXiv a longer version of a submitted journal paper. The general consensus on that thread was that it is probably okay to do what I proposed, but that I should check with the editor first to make sure the journal does not have any kind of policy against ArXiv posting.

I've sent an inquiry to the editor in question, but haven't heard back (of course, it's summer and people's schedules are wonky, so I don't necessarily think the silence means anything). I thought I would ask here:

Does the American Mathematical Monthly have a policy prohibiting posting to ArXiv a longer version (or a preprint version) of a submitted manuscript?

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Yes, they do allow arxiv postings at any stage. However, starting in 2015 the Monthly has moved to a double-blind reviewing system (which, for general readers of this site, is all but unheard of in the field of mathematics). Posting on the arxiv before or during submission would of course cause a serious risk of ruining the anonymity of the author.

I happen to know through direct experience that the Monthly views such ruination as being the author's prerogative.

It should be emphasized that this is a recent development, and whether it will be continued in the future is up to the board of directors of the MAA (and not the editorial board of the Monthly, a fact which I found surprising).

Added: Some remarks about the laissez faire philosophy of the Monthly's double-blind policy can be found here. The difficulty of preserving authorial anonymity in an arxiv culture is mentioned.

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    I'm very surprised by double blind referreeing. I suppose it makes some sense to prevent any undue prejudice towards an author, but it's still surprising. In the hard sciences, it makes a good bit of sense since there can be a lot of infighting, but I have not really seen such a situation arise in math personally.
    – Cameron Williams
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 3:42
  • Could you clarify what you mean by "the author's perogative"? Is that to say there are few (if any) consequences?
    – Antonio Vargas
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:11
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    @Antonio: I mean that the editors did not take any action in response to a submission being posted on the arxiv, even when this was called to their attention by a referee as compromising the authorial anonymity.
    – Pete L. Clark
    Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 4:55
  • The real difficulty with double-blind reviewing in math is that even without the arxiv, there are many very small subfields and people who have distinctive style's of proofs and techniques used. This may be likely less to be an issue for the Monthly given the nature of its articles.
    – JoshuaZ
    Commented Nov 2, 2018 at 19:18
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    Your link is dead. Correct link: web.archive.org/web/20150926134330/http://blogs.ams.org/jmm2013/…
    – darij grinberg
    Commented Nov 2, 2018 at 20:12
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Note the current (as accessed online Nov 2, 2018) policy-- https://www.maa.org/sites/default/files/pdf/pubs/AuthorInfo_Monthly.pdf says not to post. It states under “Peer Review“ that “Authors should also refrain from posting papers to any website until an editorial decision is made.“

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  • Where exactly is it written not to post on arXiv?
    – user9646
    Commented Nov 2, 2018 at 17:35
  • @user2357 I guess John is referring to the "Authors should also refrain from posting papers to any website until an editorial decision is made." part, which makes sense given double blind review.
    – Anyon
    Commented Nov 2, 2018 at 17:41
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    Please edit your answer to include/quote the relevant text. Link-only answers are frowned on, as the link could stop working at any point.
    – Anyon
    Commented Nov 2, 2018 at 17:44
  • @Anyon It doesn't help if the manuscript has been accepted already.
    – user9646
    Commented Nov 2, 2018 at 17:55
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    Upvoted, to counteract the false comment that "this does not provide an answer to the question." On the other hand, I agree with the other comments recommending that the relevant part of the linked instructions be copied into the answer, just in case the link stops working.
    – Andreas Blass
    Commented Nov 3, 2018 at 1:05
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Almost certainly they have no policy prohibiting this. Indeed, I don't know of any math journal which has and enforces such a policy.

You can probably find the answer to your own question on the journal's web page. In the meantime, here is some evidence that if there is any such policy then it is frequently disregarded.

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  • Looking at these search results now and comparing arXiv submission dates with the received/accepted/published dates on the Monthly's Taylor & Francis website, it appears that some authors are following the requested policy: arXiv submission after an editorial decision.
    – Brian Hopkins
    Commented Aug 30, 2019 at 19:35

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