Elsevier's Editorial Manager runs TeX Live 2022. Overleaf runs a newer version. That gap causes real problems.
The three most common failures: your /images/ subfolder (EM requires a completely flat file structure), your .bib file labeled as "LaTeX source file" instead of "Manuscript" in the upload UI (EM ignores your bibliography entirely when labeled wrong), and elsarticle.cls version mismatches between your local install and EM's older distribution.
None of these throw obvious errors. You just get a broken PDF and an error log that's hard to read.
If you're stuck in this loop, Elsevier-specific LaTeX formatting that tests for EM compatibility specifically , not just Overleaf , saves a lot of back and forth. They also handle the newer CAS templates (cas-sc, cas-dc) if your journal requires graphical abstracts or highlights.
![arXiv doesn't run BibTeX. That's why your references show as [?].](https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=1200,height=627,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fm7ei1mggwegmcm2di86v.png)
