diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr_limit.yml b/.github/workflows/pr_limit.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2174a61ed351
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr_limit.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+# Limits the number of concurrently open pull requests a contributor
+# without write access can have. This mirrors GitHub's native
+# "pull request creation cap" setting, which requires admin rights and
+# so can only be configured for ASF repositories via .asf.yaml. Once
+# https://github.com/apache/infrastructure-asfyaml/pull/111 is merged,
+# this workflow can be replaced by the `github.pull_requests.creation_cap`
+# directive in .asf.yaml.
+
+name: PR Limit
+
+on:
+  pull_request_target:
+    types:
+      - opened
+      - reopened
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.repository }}-${{ github.event.number }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  pull-requests: write
+  issues: write
+env:
+  # Maximum number of open pull requests per contributor without write
+  # access. A pull request that takes the contributor over this limit is
+  # closed with an explanatory comment.
+  PR_LIMIT: 3
+
+jobs:
+  check:
+    name: Check
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      # Always run the script from main, never from the PR head.
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          repository: apache/arrow
+          ref: main
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Check open pull request count
+        uses: actions/github-script@v9
+        with:
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          script: |
+            const script = require(`${process.env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/.github/workflows/pr_limit/check.js`);
+            await script({github, context, core});
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr_limit/check.js b/.github/workflows/pr_limit/check.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..496895ddc0b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr_limit/check.js
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+
+const fs = require("fs");
+
+const WRITE_PERMISSIONS = new Set(["write", "maintain", "admin"]);
+
+/**
+ * Returns whether the user has write access to the repository.
+ *
+ * Note that `author_association` is not a reliable signal for this:
+ * ASF members show up as MEMBER regardless of their permission on this
+ * repository, and triage collaborators show up as COLLABORATOR.
+ *
+ * @param {Object} github
+ * @param {Object} context
+ * @param {String} username
+ */
+async function hasWriteAccess(github, context, username) {
+  try {
+    const {data} = await github.rest.repos.getCollaboratorPermissionLevel({
+      owner: context.repo.owner,
+      repo: context.repo.repo,
+      username: username
+    });
+    return WRITE_PERMISSIONS.has(data.permission);
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (error.status === 404) {
+      return false;
+    }
+    throw error;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Returns the number of open pull requests authored by the user in this
+ * repository, including the one that triggered the workflow.
+ *
+ * @param {Object} github
+ * @param {Object} context
+ * @param {String} username
+ */
+async function countOpenPullRequests(github, context, username) {
+  const {data} = await github.rest.search.issuesAndPullRequests({
+    q: `repo:${context.repo.owner}/${context.repo.repo} is:pr is:open author:${username}`,
+    per_page: 1
+  });
+  return data.total_count;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Comments on the pull request explaining the limit, then closes it.
+ *
+ * @param {Object} github
+ * @param {Object} context
+ * @param {Number} pullRequestNumber
+ * @param {String} username
+ * @param {Number} limit
+ * @param {Number} count
+ */
+async function commentAndClose(github, context, pullRequestNumber, username, limit, count) {
+  const commentPath = ".github/workflows/pr_limit/comment.md";
+  const comment = fs.readFileSync(commentPath).toString()
+    .replaceAll("${PR_LIMIT}", limit)
+    .replaceAll("${OPEN_COUNT}", count)
+    .replaceAll("${USERNAME}", username);
+  await github.rest.issues.createComment({
+    owner: context.repo.owner,
+    repo: context.repo.repo,
+    issue_number: pullRequestNumber,
+    body: comment
+  });
+  await github.rest.pulls.update({
+    owner: context.repo.owner,
+    repo: context.repo.repo,
+    pull_number: pullRequestNumber,
+    state: "closed"
+  });
+}
+
+module.exports = async ({github, context, core}) => {
+  const limit = parseInt(process.env.PR_LIMIT, 10);
+  if (!Number.isInteger(limit) || limit < 1) {
+    throw new Error(`PR_LIMIT must be a positive integer, got: ${process.env.PR_LIMIT}`);
+  }
+
+  const pullRequestNumber = context.payload.number;
+  const user = context.payload.pull_request.user;
+
+  if (user.type === "Bot") {
+    core.info(`Skipping: ${user.login} is a bot.`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (await hasWriteAccess(github, context, user.login)) {
+    core.info(`Skipping: ${user.login} has write access.`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  // A committer reopening a previously closed pull request is a deliberate
+  // decision to accept it, so don't close it again.
+  const sender = context.payload.sender;
+  if (sender.login !== user.login && await hasWriteAccess(github, context, sender.login)) {
+    core.info(`Skipping: ${context.payload.action} by ${sender.login}, who has write access.`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const count = await countOpenPullRequests(github, context, user.login);
+  core.info(`${user.login} has ${count} open pull request(s); limit is ${limit}.`);
+  if (count <= limit) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  core.info(`Closing #${pullRequestNumber}: over the limit.`);
+  await commentAndClose(github, context, pullRequestNumber, user.login, limit, count);
+};
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr_limit/comment.md b/.github/workflows/pr_limit/comment.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cd6f76d76c47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr_limit/comment.md
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+<!--
+  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+  or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+  distributed with this work for additional information
+  regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+  to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+  "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+  with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+  software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+  "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+  KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+  specific language governing permissions and limitations
+  under the License.
+-->
+
+Thanks for opening a pull request!
+
+**This pull request has been automatically closed because you currently have ${OPEN_COUNT} open pull requests, which is more than the limit of ${PR_LIMIT}.**
+
+Due to the increase in pull requests opened by AI bots, and in order to keep the review queue manageable, Apache Arrow limits contributors without write access to at most ${PR_LIMIT} concurrently open pull requests. This helps make sure each pull request gets the attention it needs and that work in progress does not go stale.
+
+Once one of [your other open pull requests](https://github.com/apache/arrow/pulls/${USERNAME}) has been merged or closed, you are welcome to reopen this one.
+
+See also:
+
+  * [Contribution Guidelines - Limit on concurrent pull requests](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/dev/developers/bug_reports.html#pr-limit)
+  * [Contribution Guidelines - Contributing Overview](https://arrow.apache.org/docs/developers/overview.html)
diff --git a/docs/source/developers/bug_reports.rst b/docs/source/developers/bug_reports.rst
index 307261617acc..a715211fde8d 100644
--- a/docs/source/developers/bug_reports.rst
+++ b/docs/source/developers/bug_reports.rst
@@ -237,6 +237,18 @@ still active.
    ``Status: needs champion`` are confirmed-wanted enhancements that need
    a contributor. See :ref:`finding-issues` for more.
 
+.. _pr-limit:
+
+Limit on concurrent pull requests
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+
+Due to the increase in pull requests opened by AI bots, and in order to keep
+the review queue manageable, contributors without write access to the
+repository may have at most **3 pull requests open at the same time**.
+A pull request opened beyond that limit is automatically closed by a GitHub
+Actions workflow, with a comment explaining why. Once one of your other pull
+requests has been merged or closed, you can reopen it.
+
 .. _issue-assignment:
 
 Issue assignment