NEW YORK—A leading scientific preprint server introduced upload limits this month, amid growing concern that mathematics can now be produced faster than it can be downloaded.

"For thirty years, our problem was convincing people to share their work," said server spokesperson Dana Whitcomb. "We'd like to apologize for how well that went."

Under the new policy, contributors may upload a fixed number of papers per period. Any additional breakthroughs will be held in a waiting room until a slot opens, and researchers who exceed their allotment will be asked to pace themselves.

Days after the limits took effect, an artificial intelligence lab released 722 math papers in a single batch and posted them to a code-sharing site instead. Server staff described the decision as "a relief" and "a little hurtful."

"We built a whole system for this," said Whitcomb. "It has categories. It has a mailing list."

Engineers have proposed a tiered system in which human-written papers get priority, machine-written papers wait in line, and papers already verified by computer receive an express lane, which is also closed.

The server's daily email digest, already longer than many of the papers it lists, has been capped at a length a human can scroll without sustaining an injury.

At press time, the server had launched a waitlist for the waitlist, which was full.