diff --git a/scipost/services.py b/scipost/services.py
index 3df2ce70fb903edf7ea290f81830ce69094d566c..b0f93d62f9fac06284275d5aeea5e8b90b1d961e 100644
--- a/scipost/services.py
+++ b/scipost/services.py
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ class ArxivCaller:
         url = self.query_base_url % self.identifier
         request = requests.get(url)
         response_content = feedparser.parse(request.content)
+
         arxiv_data = response_content['entries'][0]
         if self._search_result_present(arxiv_data):
             self.is_valid = True
@@ -104,4 +105,6 @@ class ArxivCaller:
         }
 
     def _search_result_present(self, data):
-        return 'title' in data
+        if len(data.get('entries', [])) > 0:
+            return 'title' in data['entries'][0]
+        return False
diff --git a/submissions/forms.py b/submissions/forms.py
index 48d8037d42fc9e01889bc2dcb0bf046d5bd133ee..c13adbe6e338f45fe1a42840c05e0d26ca5ec337 100644
--- a/submissions/forms.py
+++ b/submissions/forms.py
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ class SubmissionChecks:
 
 
 class SubmissionIdentifierForm(SubmissionChecks, forms.Form):
-    IDENTIFIER_PATTERN_NEW = r'^[0-9]{4,}.[0-9]{4,5}v[0-9]{1,2}$'
+    IDENTIFIER_PATTERN_NEW = r'^[0-9]{4,}\.[0-9]{4,5}v[0-9]{1,2}$'
     IDENTIFIER_PLACEHOLDER = 'new style (with version nr) ####.####(#)v#(#)'
 
     identifier = forms.RegexField(regex=IDENTIFIER_PATTERN_NEW, strip=True,