Exploration-Exploitation papers, 2023–2026

Key findings

• Exploration-Exploitation went from 47 papers in 2023 to 71 in 2026, roughly 1.5x in three years.
• NeurIPS publishes the most Exploration-Exploitation work: 93 papers from 2023 to 2026, 40% of the four-venue total.
• The fastest-growing overlap is with Reasoning Models: papers tagged with both rose from 1 in 2023 to 10 in 2026.
• Among the 5 topics under Recommenders and Ads, it ranks #4 by 2026 paper count; the fastest grower in the group, Click-Through Prediction, is up 2.6x versus 1.5x here.

Representative papers

Spread across years and venues so every edition shows up

• NeurIPS 2026Decentralized Q-Learning in Markov Potential Games
• ICML 2026Bandit Social Leaning Dynamics with Exploration Episodes
• ICLR 2026Laplacian Kernelized Bandit
• CVPR 2026Underground Plant Exploration Non-Destructive 3D Root Assessment with GPR Based
• NeurIPS 2025DUET: Dual-Perspective Pseudo Labeling and Uncertainty-aware Exploration & Exploitation Training for Source-Free Domain Adaptation
• ICML 2025Clustering Items through Bandit Feedback: Finding the Right Feature out of Many
• ICLR 2025B-STaR: Monitoring and Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in Self-Taught Reasoners
• CVPR 2025Dynamic Pseudo Labeling via Gradient Cutting for High-Low Entropy Exploration
• NeurIPS 2024Exploration, Exploitation, and Engagement in Multi-Armed Bandits with Abandonment
• ICML 2024A Contextual Combinatorial Bandit Approach to Negotiation
• ICLR 2024Dropout-Based Rashomon Set Exploration for Efficient Predictive Multiplicity Estimation
• CVPR 2024Instance-aware Exploration-Verification-Exploitation for Instance ImageGoal Navigation
• NeurIPS 2023Adaptive Algorithms for Relaxed Pareto Set Identification
• ICML 2023Curiosity in Hindsight: Intrinsic Exploration in Stochastic Environments
• ICLR 2023Combinatorial Pure Exploration of Causal Bandits
• CVPR 2023Exact-NeRF: An Exploration of a Precise Volumetric Parameterization for Neural Radiance Fields
• NeurIPS 2026Hit Expansion via Localized Exploration of Synthesizable Chemical Space
• ICML 2026Exploration-free Algorithms for Multi-group Mean Estimation
• ICLR 2026DIVERSE: Disagreement-Inducing Vector Evolution for Rashomon Set Exploration
• CVPR 2026From Exploration to Exploitation A Two-Stage Entropy RLVR Approach for

All Exploration-Exploitation papers

84 papers, page 2 of 2

51. ICML 2024Handling Heterogeneous Curvatures in Bandit LQR Control
52. ICML 2024Imitation Learning in Discounted Linear MDPs without exploration assumptions
53. ICML 2024Online Learning with Bounded Recall
54. ICML 2024Online Resource Allocation with Non-Stationary Customers
55. ICML 2024Optimal Batched Linear Bandits
56. ICML 2024Provably Efficient Exploration in Quantum Reinforcement Learning with Logarithmic Worst-Case Regret
57. ICML 2024Provably Efficient Long-Horizon Exploration in Monte Carlo Tree Search through State Occupancy Regularization
58. ICML 2024Random Latent Exploration for Deep Reinforcement Learning
59. ICML 2024ReconBoost: Boosting Can Achieve Modality Reconcilement
60. ICML 2024Safe and Robust Subgame Exploitation in Imperfect Information Games
61. ICML 2024Safe Exploration in Dose Finding Clinical Trials with Heterogeneous Participants
62. ICML 2024Scalable Online Exploration via Coverability
63. ICML 2024Stochastic Bandits with ReLU Neural Networks
64. ICML 2024Straight-Through Meets Sparse Recovery: the Support Exploration Algorithm
65. ICML 2024Testing the Feasibility of Linear Programs with Bandit Feedback
66. ICML 2023An Information-Theoretic Analysis of Nonstationary Bandit Learning
67. ICML 2023Anti-Exploration by Random Network Distillation
68. ICML 2023Banker Online Mirror Descent: A Universal Approach for Delayed Online Bandit Learning
69. ICML 2023Curiosity in Hindsight: Intrinsic Exploration in Stochastic Environments
70. ICML 2023Deep Laplacian-based Options for Temporally-Extended Exploration
71. ICML 2023Fast Rates for Maximum Entropy Exploration
72. ICML 2023FLEX: an Adaptive Exploration Algorithm for Nonlinear Systems
73. ICML 2023Incentivizing Exploration with Linear Contexts and Combinatorial Actions
74. ICML 2023Layered State Discovery for Incremental Autonomous Exploration
75. ICML 2023LESSON: Learning to Integrate Exploration Strategies for Reinforcement Learning via an Option Framework
76. ICML 2023Leveraging Demonstrations to Improve Online Learning: Quality Matters
77. ICML 2023Low-Switching Policy Gradient with Exploration via Online Sensitivity Sampling
78. ICML 2023Moderately Distributional Exploration for Domain Generalization
79. ICML 2023Multiplier Bootstrap-based Exploration
80. ICML 2023Near-optimal Conservative Exploration in Reinforcement Learning under Episode-wise Constraints
81. ICML 2023On the convergence of the MLE as an estimator of the learning rate in the Exp3 algorithm
82. ICML 2023Online Restless Bandits with Unobserved States
83. ICML 2023Optimal Horizon-Free Reward-Free Exploration for Linear Mixture MDPs
84. ICML 2023Stochastic Gradient Succeeds for Bandits

FAQ

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers were published at NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML and CVPR from 2023 to 2026?

235 in total: 47 in 2023, 63 in 2024, 54 in 2025, 71 in 2026.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at NeurIPS 2026?

NeurIPS 2026 has 25 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 20 the year before.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at ICLR 2026?

ICLR 2026 has 23 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 10 the year before.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at ICML 2026?

ICML 2026 has 19 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 21 the year before.

How many Exploration-Exploitation papers are at CVPR 2026?

CVPR 2026 has 4 Exploration-Exploitation papers, versus 3 the year before.

Which conference publishes the most Exploration-Exploitation papers?

NeurIPS, with 93 papers from 2023 to 2026.