diff --git a/langchain/utilities/arxiv.py b/langchain/utilities/arxiv.py
index 1c114813..92af5df8 100644
--- a/langchain/utilities/arxiv.py
+++ b/langchain/utilities/arxiv.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 """Util that calls Arxiv."""
 import logging
 import os
-from typing import Any, Dict, List
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Extra, root_validator
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ class ArxivAPIWrapper(BaseModel):
     ARXIV_MAX_QUERY_LENGTH = 300
     load_max_docs: int = 100
     load_all_available_meta: bool = False
-    doc_content_chars_max: int = 4000
+    doc_content_chars_max: Optional[int] = 4000
 
     class Config:
         """Configuration for this pydantic object."""
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/utilities/test_arxiv.py b/tests/integration_tests/utilities/test_arxiv.py
index d55f6e39..0fc2fd6d 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/utilities/test_arxiv.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/utilities/test_arxiv.py
@@ -66,6 +66,24 @@ def test_load_returns_limited_docs() -> None:
     assert_docs(docs)
 
 
+def test_load_returns_limited_doc_content_chars() -> None:
+    """Test that returns limited doc_content_chars_max"""
+
+    doc_content_chars_max = 100
+    api_client = ArxivAPIWrapper(doc_content_chars_max=doc_content_chars_max)
+    docs = api_client.load("1605.08386")
+    assert len(docs[0].page_content) == doc_content_chars_max
+
+
+def test_load_returns_unlimited_doc_content_chars() -> None:
+    """Test that returns unlimited doc_content_chars_max"""
+
+    doc_content_chars_max = None
+    api_client = ArxivAPIWrapper(doc_content_chars_max=doc_content_chars_max)
+    docs = api_client.load("1605.08386")
+    assert len(docs[0].page_content) == 54337
+
+
 def test_load_returns_full_set_of_metadata() -> None:
     """Test that returns several docs"""
     api_client = ArxivAPIWrapper(load_max_docs=1, load_all_available_meta=True)