diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/alpha_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/alpha_spider.py
index ce334056..4282a98b 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/alpha_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/alpha_spider.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from ..utils import (
     has_numbers,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ class AlphaSpider(StatefulSpider, CrawlSpider):
     domain = "http://alpha.web.cern.ch/"
     itertag = "//div[@class = 'node node-thesis']"
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct Alpha spider"""
         super(AlphaSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/aps_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/aps_spider.py
index 3b7f0d44..2b10f078 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/aps_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/aps_spider.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
     get_nested,
     build_dict,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ class APSSpider(StatefulSpider):
     name = 'APS'
     aps_base_url = "http://harvest.aps.org/v2/journals/articles"
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, url=None, from_date=None, until_date=None,
                  date="published", journals=None, sets=None, per_page=100,
                  **kwargs):
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/arxiv_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/arxiv_spider.py
index 1337b84f..50bd2041 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/arxiv_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/arxiv_spider.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     get_licenses,
     split_fullname,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 RE_CONFERENCE = re.compile(
@@ -47,15 +48,29 @@ class ArxivSpider(OAIPMHSpider):
         Using OAI-PMH XML files::
 
             $ scrapy crawl arXiv \\
-                -a "oai_set=physics:hep-th" -a "from_date=2017-12-13"
+                -a "sets=physics:hep-th" -a "from_date=2017-12-13"
 
     """
     name = 'arXiv'
 
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        kwargs.setdefault('url', 'http://export.arxiv.org/oai2')
-        kwargs.setdefault('format', 'arXiv')
-        super(ArxivSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+    @strict_kwargs
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        url='http://export.arxiv.org/oai2',
+        format='arXiv',
+        sets=None,
+        from_date=None,
+        until_date=None,
+        **kwargs
+    ):
+        super(ArxivSpider, self).__init__(
+            url=url,
+            format=format,
+            sets=sets,
+            from_date=from_date,
+            until_date=until_date,
+            **kwargs
+        )
 
     def parse_record(self, selector):
         """Parse an arXiv XML exported file into a HEP record."""
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/base_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/base_spider.py
index 79748fde..3324242e 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/base_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/base_spider.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     parse_domain,
     get_node,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ class BaseSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
         ("dc", "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"),
     ]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct BASE spider"""
         super(BaseSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/brown_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/brown_spider.py
index fe1c340d..e7c8530e 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/brown_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/brown_spider.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
     parse_domain,
     get_mime_type,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ class BrownSpider(StatefulSpider, CrawlSpider):
     name = 'brown'
     start_urls = ["https://repository.library.brown.edu/api/collections/355/"]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct Brown spider."""
         super(BrownSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/cds_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/cds_spider.py
index 415a62f0..b96d794a 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/cds_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/cds_spider.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from scrapy.spider import XMLFeedSpider
 
 from . import StatefulSpider
-from ..utils import ParsedItem
+from ..utils import ParsedItem, strict_kwargs
 
 
 class CDSSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class CDSSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
         ('marc', 'http://www.loc.gov/MARC21/slim'),
     ]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, **kwargs):
         super(CDSSpider, self).__init__(**kwargs)
         self.source_file = source_file
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/common/oaipmh_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/common/oaipmh_spider.py
index fb69c741..fae38c7b 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/common/oaipmh_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/common/oaipmh_spider.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 from scrapy.selector import Selector
 
 from .last_run_store import LastRunStoreSpider
+from ...utils import strict_kwargs
 
 
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ class OAIPMHSpider(LastRunStoreSpider):
     __metaclass__ = abc.ABCMeta
     name = 'OAI-PMH'
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(
         self,
         url,
@@ -55,9 +57,9 @@ def __init__(
         alias=None,
         from_date=None,
         until_date=None,
-        *args, **kwargs
+        **kwargs
     ):
-        super(OAIPMHSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        super(OAIPMHSpider, self).__init__(**kwargs)
         self.url = url
         self.format = format
         if isinstance(sets, string_types):
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/desy_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/desy_spider.py
index f1d40f6f..549ee6c6 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/desy_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/desy_spider.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
     ftp_list_files,
     ftp_connection_info,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ class DesySpider(StatefulSpider):
      """
     name = 'desy'
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(
         self,
         source_folder=None,
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/dnb_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/dnb_spider.py
index 5f243b94..436d7b22 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/dnb_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/dnb_spider.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     parse_domain,
     get_node,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ class DNBSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
         ("slim", "http://www.loc.gov/MARC21/slim"),
     ]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct DNB spider."""
         super(DNBSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/edp_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/edp_spider.py
index c051c8ee..48226ef6 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/edp_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/edp_spider.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
     get_node,
     parse_domain,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -123,6 +124,7 @@ class EDPSpider(StatefulSpider, Jats, XMLFeedSpider):
         'EPJ Web of Conferences'
     }
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, package_path=None, ftp_folder="incoming", ftp_netrc=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct EDP spider.
 
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/elsevier_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/elsevier_spider.py
index 583f996b..8755f843 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/elsevier_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/elsevier_spider.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     range_as_string,
     unzip_xml_files,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 from ..dateutils import format_year
 
@@ -138,6 +139,7 @@ class ElsevierSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
 
     ERROR_CODES = range(400, 432)
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, atom_feed=None, zip_file=None, xml_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct Elsevier spider."""
         super(ElsevierSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/hindawi_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/hindawi_spider.py
index 5f81f5b4..74555137 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/hindawi_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/hindawi_spider.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 from ..utils import (
     get_licenses,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ class HindawiSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
         ("mml", "http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"),
     ]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct Hindawi spider."""
         super(HindawiSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/infn_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/infn_spider.py
index 2e093ab1..3e8b253b 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/infn_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/infn_spider.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 from ..utils import (
     get_temporary_file,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 from ..dateutils import format_date
 
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ class InfnSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
     itertag = "//tr[@onmouseover]"
     today = str(datetime.date.today().year)
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, year=today, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct INFN spider"""
         super(InfnSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/iop_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/iop_spider.py
index fbca3ae5..be7b349f 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/iop_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/iop_spider.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 from ..extractors.nlm import NLM
 from ..items import HEPRecord
 from ..loaders import HEPLoader
-from ..utils import ParsedItem
+from ..utils import ParsedItem, strict_kwargs
 
 
 class IOPSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider, NLM):
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ class IOPSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider, NLM):
         # FIXME: add more
     }
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, zip_file=None, xml_file=None, pdf_files=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct IOP spider."""
         super(IOPSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/magic_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/magic_spider.py
index 8dfd5d51..31967acc 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/magic_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/magic_spider.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 from ..utils import (
     split_fullname,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ class MagicSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
 
     ERROR_CODES = range(400, 432)
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct MAGIC spider"""
         super(MagicSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/mit_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/mit_spider.py
index 21804873..e101b419 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/mit_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/mit_spider.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
     get_temporary_file,
     split_fullname,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -63,6 +64,7 @@ class MITSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
     itertag = "//ul[@class='ds-artifact-list']/li"
     today = str(datetime.date.today().year)
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, year=today, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct MIT spider"""
         super(MITSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/phenix_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/phenix_spider.py
index aa54bd98..76f216a0 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/phenix_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/phenix_spider.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 from . import StatefulSpider
 from ..items import HEPRecord
 from ..loaders import HEPLoader
-from ..utils import ParsedItem
+from ..utils import ParsedItem, strict_kwargs
 
 
 class PhenixSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class PhenixSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
     iterator = "html"
     itertag = "//table//td/ul/li"
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct PHENIX spider"""
         super(PhenixSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/phil_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/phil_spider.py
index 06f52da2..f23c7391 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/phil_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/phil_spider.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     parse_domain,
     get_mime_type,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ class PhilSpider(StatefulSpider, CrawlSpider):
     name = 'phil'
     start_urls = ["http://philpapers.org/philpapers/raw/export/inspire.json"]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct Phil spider."""
         super(PhilSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/pos_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/pos_spider.py
index c8c67505..0e4a5700 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/pos_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/pos_spider.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
     get_licenses,
     get_first,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -76,6 +77,7 @@ class POSSpider(StatefulSpider):
     """
     name = 'pos'
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(
         self,
         source_file=None,
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/t2k_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/t2k_spider.py
index db18eb1e..73dba273 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/t2k_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/t2k_spider.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 from ..utils import (
     split_fullname,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ class T2kSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
     iterator = "html"
     itertag = "//table[@id='folders']//tr"
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(self, source_file=None, *args, **kwargs):
         """Construct T2K spider"""
         super(T2kSpider, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/hepcrawl/spiders/wsp_spider.py b/hepcrawl/spiders/wsp_spider.py
index 280b6875..01e44156 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/spiders/wsp_spider.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/spiders/wsp_spider.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
     local_list_files,
     unzip_xml_files,
     ParsedItem,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -89,6 +90,7 @@ class WorldScientificSpider(StatefulSpider, XMLFeedSpider):
         'rapid-communications'
     ]
 
+    @strict_kwargs
     def __init__(
         self,
         local_package_dir=None,
diff --git a/hepcrawl/utils.py b/hepcrawl/utils.py
index e504c4a6..1911ef8e 100644
--- a/hepcrawl/utils.py
+++ b/hepcrawl/utils.py
@@ -9,10 +9,12 @@
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
+import inspect
 import fnmatch
 import os
 import pprint
 import re
+from functools import wraps
 from operator import itemgetter
 from itertools import groupby
 from netrc import netrc
@@ -382,6 +384,53 @@ def get_licenses(
     return license
 
 
+def strict_kwargs(func):
+    """This decorator will disallow any keyword arguments that
+    do not begin with an underscore sign in the decorated method.
+    This is mainly to make errors while passing arguments to spiders
+    immediately visible. As we cannot remove kwargs from there altogether
+    (used by scrapyd), with this we can ensure that we are not passing unwanted
+    data by mistake.
+
+    Additionaly this will add all of the 'public' not-None kwargs to an
+    `_init_kwargs` field in the object for easier passing and all of the
+    arguments (including non-overloaded ones) to `_all_kwargs`.
+    (To make passing them forward easier.)
+
+    Args:
+        func (function): a spider method
+
+    Returns:
+        function: method which will disallow any keyword arguments that
+            do not begin with an underscore sign.
+    """
+    argspec = inspect.getargspec(func)
+    defined_arguments = argspec.args[1:]
+    spider_fields = ['settings']
+
+    allowed_arguments = defined_arguments + spider_fields
+
+    @wraps(func)
+    def wrapper(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        disallowed_kwargs = [
+            key for key in kwargs
+            if not key.startswith('_') and key not in allowed_arguments
+        ]
+
+        if disallowed_kwargs:
+            raise TypeError(
+                'Only underscored kwargs or %s allowed in %s. '
+                'Check %s for typos.' % (
+                    ', '.join(spider_fields),
+                    func,
+                    ', '.join(disallowed_kwargs),
+                )
+            )
+
+        return func(self, *args, **kwargs)
+    return wrapper
+
+
 class RecordFile(object):
     """Metadata of a file needed for a record.
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
index 42e6fd6f..7ed3e5fc 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     range_as_string,
     split_fullname,
     unzip_xml_files,
+    strict_kwargs,
 )
 
 
@@ -77,6 +78,18 @@ def list_for_dict():
     ]
 
 
+class Dummy(object):
+    """A sample class with @strict_kwargs constructor."""
+    @strict_kwargs
+    def __init__(self, good1_no_default, good2=10, good3=20, good4=30, *args, **kwargs):
+        self.good1_no_default = good1_no_default
+        self.good2 = good2
+        self.good3 = good3
+        self.good4 = good4
+        self.args = args
+        self.kwargs = kwargs
+
+
 def test_unzip_xml(zipfile, tmpdir):
     """Test unzipping of xml files using zipfile and tmpdir fixtures."""
     assert len(unzip_xml_files(zipfile, six.text_type(tmpdir))) == 1
@@ -261,3 +274,26 @@ def test_get_journal_and_section_invalid():
 
     assert journal_title == ''
     assert section == ''
+
+
+def test_strict_kwargs_pass():
+    """Test the `strict_kwargs` decorator allowing the kwargs."""
+    dummy = Dummy(
+        good1_no_default=1,
+        good2=2,
+        good3=None,
+        _private=4,
+        settings={'DUMMY': True}
+    )
+    assert callable(dummy.__init__)
+    assert dummy.good1_no_default == 1
+    assert dummy.good2 == 2
+    assert dummy.good3 == None
+    assert dummy.good4 == 30
+    assert dummy.kwargs == {'_private': 4, 'settings': {'DUMMY': True}}
+
+
+def test_strict_kwargs_fail():
+    """Test the `strict_kwargs` decorator disallowing some kwargs."""
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        Dummy(**{'good1_no_default': 1, 'good2': 2, u'bąd_þärãm': 4})