Research map / Multi-agent systems and games
Cooperative multi-agent RL: research map
593 accepted papers on Cooperative multi-agent RL in Multi-agent systems and games, from ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, CVPR and AAAI (2016–2026), grouped into 2 clusters and 8 approaches. The busiest year so far is 2026.
Within Multi-agent systems and games, its share shrank from 22.4% in 2023–24 to 11.9% in 2025–26 (141 → 228 papers at ICML, NeurIPS, CVPR and AAAI, the venues with data for all four years).
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Approaches and key papers
reinforcement marl · communication · marl algorithms · 362 papers
Approaches in this cluster:
- Cooperative MARL algorithms (149 papers)
Proposes parameter-sharing, primal-dual, and benchmarked algorithms for cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning. - MARL benchmarks and grouping (121 papers)
Introduces benchmarks and agent grouping or experience-sharing schemes for cooperative MARL. - Learned inter-agent communication (58 papers)
Learns when, what, and how to communicate among agents under bandwidth and delay limits. - Intrinsic-reward exploration for MARL (34 papers)
Drives multi-agent exploration with individual and collective intrinsic rewards and curiosity.
Most cited and most cited since 2024:
- Learning to Communicate with Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (NeurIPS 2016 · 1,057 citations)
- The Surprising Effectiveness of PPO in Cooperative Multi-Agent Games (NeurIPS 2022 · 597 citations)
- Carbon Footprint Reduction for Sustainable Data Centers in Real-Time (AAAI 2024 · 25 citations)
- T2MAC: Targeted and Trusted Multi-Agent Communication through Selective Engagement and Evidence-Driven Integration (AAAI 2024 · 18 citations)
decentralized · value · joint · 231 papers
Approaches in this cluster:
- Decentralized actor-critic MARL (77 papers)
Trains decentralized or centralized-critic policy-gradient agents with limited communication. - Offline and networked MARL (65 papers)
Learns multi-agent policies from fixed datasets or with networked, scalable value decomposition. - Coordination graphs (50 papers)
Models agent interactions with sparse coordination graphs and search-based planning. - Value factorization (39 papers)
Decomposes joint Q-functions into per-agent values with theory and improved factorization schemes.
Most cited and most cited since 2024:
- Multi-Agent Actor-Critic for Mixed Cooperative-Competitive Environments (NeurIPS 2017 · 1,002 citations)
- Stabilising Experience Replay for Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (ICML 2017 · 420 citations)
- Intrinsic Action Tendency Consistency for Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (AAAI 2024 · 9 citations)
- STAS: Spatial-Temporal Return Decomposition for Solving Sparse Rewards Problems in Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning (AAAI 2024 · 9 citations)
Related topics in Multi-agent systems and games
- LLM agents (1,232)
- Games and equilibria (526)
- Human-AI and goal-conditioned (1,160)