diff --git a/docling/cli/main.py b/docling/cli/main.py
index 60a3c296a..d68224b4b 100644
--- a/docling/cli/main.py
+++ b/docling/cli/main.py
@@ -194,6 +194,13 @@ def convert(
             help="Show version information.",
         ),
     ] = None,
+    document_timeout: Annotated[
+        Optional[float],
+        typer.Option(
+            ...,
+            help="The timeout for processing each document, in seconds.",
+        ),
+    ] = None,
 ):
     logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO)
 
@@ -238,6 +245,7 @@ def convert(
         do_ocr=ocr,
         ocr_options=ocr_options,
         do_table_structure=True,
+        document_timeout=document_timeout,
     )
     pipeline_options.table_structure_options.do_cell_matching = True  # do_cell_matching
     pipeline_options.table_structure_options.mode = table_mode
diff --git a/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py b/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py
index 2b9d228c5..f4295ceb9 100644
--- a/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py
+++ b/docling/datamodel/pipeline_options.py
@@ -82,3 +82,4 @@ class PdfPipelineOptions(PipelineOptions):
     generate_page_images: bool = False
     generate_picture_images: bool = False
     generate_table_images: bool = False
+    document_timeout: Optional[float] = None
diff --git a/docling/pipeline/base_pipeline.py b/docling/pipeline/base_pipeline.py
index 5013ad584..181588b0c 100644
--- a/docling/pipeline/base_pipeline.py
+++ b/docling/pipeline/base_pipeline.py
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ def _build_document(self, conv_res: ConversionResult) -> ConversionResult:
             # conv_res.status = ConversionStatus.FAILURE
             # return conv_res
 
+        total_elapsed_time = 0
         with TimeRecorder(conv_res, "doc_build", scope=ProfilingScope.DOCUMENT):
 
             for i in range(0, conv_res.input.page_count):
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ def _build_document(self, conv_res: ConversionResult) -> ConversionResult:
                 for page_batch in chunkify(
                     conv_res.pages, settings.perf.page_batch_size
                 ):
-                    start_pb_time = time.time()
+                    start_batch_time = time.monotonic()
 
                     # 1. Initialise the page resources
                     init_pages = map(
@@ -149,8 +150,16 @@ def _build_document(self, conv_res: ConversionResult) -> ConversionResult:
                     for p in pipeline_pages:  # Must exhaust!
                         pass
 
-                    end_pb_time = time.time() - start_pb_time
-                    _log.debug(f"Finished converting page batch time={end_pb_time:.3f}")
+                    end_batch_time = time.monotonic()
+                    total_elapsed_time += end_batch_time - start_batch_time
+                    if self.pipeline_options.document_timeout is not None and total_elapsed_time > self.pipeline_options.document_timeout:
+                        _log.warning(
+                            f"Document processing time ({total_elapsed_time:.3f} seconds) exceeded the specified timeout of {self.pipeline_options.document_timeout:.3f} seconds"
+                        )
+                        conv_res.status = ConversionStatus.PARTIAL_SUCCESS
+                        break
+
+                    _log.debug(f"Finished converting page batch time={end_batch_time:.3f}")
 
             except Exception as e:
                 conv_res.status = ConversionStatus.FAILURE