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Abstract: The creep of paper is accelerated by moisture cycling. This effect is known as mechano-sorptive creep. It is assumed that this is an effect of transient stresses produced during moisture content changes in combination with non-linear creep behaviour of the fibres. The stresses produced by the moisture content changes are often much larger than the applied mechanical loads. If this is the case, the mechanical loads are only a perturbation to the internal stress state, and it will appear as if the mechano-sorptive creep is linear in stress. It is possible to take advantage of this feature. In the present report the pure moisture problem is first solved. The mechanical load is then treated as a perturbation of the solution to the moisture problem. Using this strategy, it is possible to linearize a non-linear network model for mechano-sorptive creep and to formulate a continuum model. As a result, the number of variables in the model is reduced. This is a significant improvement as it will be possible to use the linearized model to describe the material in a finite element program and solve problems with complicated geometries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]