% Key papers for Reward shaping for sparse rewards (scime atlas, https://atlas.scime.ai). Authors are not included: add them from the paper pages.

@inproceedings{iclr2019_large_29142,
  title = {{Large-Scale Study of Curiosity-Driven Learning}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2019/poster/930},
}

@inproceedings{icml2018_learning_36805,
  title = {{Learning by Playing Solving Sparse Reward Tasks from Scratch}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2018},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2018/poster/2179},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2019_episodic_29065,
  title = {{Episodic Curiosity through Reachability}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2019/poster/790},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2020_learning_60236,
  title = {{Learning to Utilize Shaping Rewards: A New Approach of Reward Shaping}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2020},
  url = {https://nips.cc/virtual/2020/poster/17042},
}

@inproceedings{icml2017_a_36035,
  title = {{A Laplacian Framework for Option Discovery in Reinforcement Learning}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2017},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2017/poster/577},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2018_belief_102474,
  title = {{Belief Reward Shaping in Reinforcement Learning}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2018},
  url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/11741},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2018_refuel_57545,
  title = {{REFUEL: Exploring Sparse Features in Deep Reinforcement Learning for Fast Disease Diagnosis}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2018},
  url = {https://nips.cc/virtual/2018/poster/11705},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2018_on_57458,
  title = {{On Learning Intrinsic Rewards for Policy Gradient Methods}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2018},
  url = {https://nips.cc/virtual/2018/poster/11457},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2019_keeping_58442,
  title = {{Keeping Your Distance: Solving Sparse Reward Tasks Using Self-Balancing Shaped Rewards}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://nips.cc/virtual/2019/poster/14051},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2022_reinforcement_2632,
  title = {{Reinforcement Learning with Stochastic Reward Machines}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://aaai.org/papers/06429-reinforcement-learning-with-stochastic-reward-machines/},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2019_visceral_29086,
  title = {{Visceral Machines: Risk-Aversion in Reinforcement Learning with Intrinsic Physiological Rewards}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2019/poster/911},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2021_learning_897,
  title = {{Learning Task-Distribution Reward Shaping with Meta-Learning}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2021},
  url = {https://aaai.org/papers/11210-learning-task-distribution-reward-shaping-with-meta-learning/},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2020_memory_60298,
  title = {{Memory Based Trajectory-conditioned Policies for Learning from Sparse Rewards}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2020},
  url = {https://nips.cc/virtual/2020/poster/16999},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2019_deriving_100168,
  title = {{Deriving Subgoals Autonomously to Accelerate Learning in Sparse Reward Domains}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/3876},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2022_redeeming_63819,
  title = {{Redeeming intrinsic rewards via constrained optimization}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://nips.cc/virtual/2022/poster/54497},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2025_bootstrapped_8289,
  title = {{Bootstrapped Reward Shaping}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/33679},
}

@inproceedings{icml2020_what_38931,
  title = {{What Can Learned Intrinsic Rewards Capture?}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2020},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2020/poster/6150},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2020_how_102133,
  title = {{How Should an Agent Practice?}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2020},
  url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/5995},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2023_learning_4051,
  title = {{Learning to Shape Rewards Using a Game of Two Partners}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2023},
  url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/26371},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2019_competitive_29077,
  title = {{Competitive experience replay}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2019},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2019/poster/1091},
}

@inproceedings{aaai2024_potential_6971,
  title = {{Potential-Based Reward Shaping for Intrinsic Motivation (Student Abstract)}},
  booktitle = {AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)},
  year = {2024},
  url = {https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/30441},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2025_centralized_76782,
  title = {{Centralized Reward Agent for Knowledge Sharing and Transfer in Multi-Task Reinforcement Learning}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=MyCKtV9CpR},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2025_highly_82096,
  title = {{Highly Efficient Self-Adaptive Reward Shaping for Reinforcement Learning}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2025/poster/29692},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2025_bamdp_83788,
  title = {{BAMDP Shaping: a Unified Framework for Intrinsic Motivation and Reward Shaping}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2025/poster/28031},
}

@inproceedings{icml2024_to_43427,
  title = {{To the Max: Reinventing Reward in Reinforcement Learning}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2024},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2024/poster/35025},
}

@inproceedings{icml2024_unsupervised_44751,
  title = {{Unsupervised Zero-Shot Reinforcement Learning via Functional Reward Encodings}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2024},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2024/poster/33701},
}

@inproceedings{icml2025_action_48833,
  title = {{Action-Dependent Optimality-Preserving Reward Shaping}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2025/poster/43789},
}

@inproceedings{icml2026_hierarchical_50524,
  title = {{Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Sparse-Reward Search in Commutative Algebra}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=DF6jVG4fG8},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2025_discover_78652,
  title = {{DISCOVER: Automated Curricula for Sparse-Reward Reinforcement Learning}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=guZBnsKPsw},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2025_orso_80531,
  title = {{ORSO: Accelerating Reward Design via Online Reward Selection and Policy Optimization}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://iclr.cc/virtual/2025/poster/31232},
}

@inproceedings{icml2024_reward_44749,
  title = {{Reward Shaping for Reinforcement Learning with An Assistant Reward Agent}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2024},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2024/poster/33703},
}

@inproceedings{icml2025_catching_47706,
  title = {{Catching Two Birds with One Stone: Reward Shaping with Dual Random Networks for Balancing Exploration and Exploitation}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://icml.cc/virtual/2025/poster/44893},
}

@inproceedings{icml2026_uncertainty_51144,
  title = {{Uncertainty-Guided Exploration and Stable Planning for Sparse-Reward Manipulation from Limited Demonstrations}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=J5IGUfqsIL},
}

@inproceedings{icml2026_beyond_51628,
  title = {{Beyond Rewards in RL for Cyber Defence}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=OFFHV53icH},
}

@inproceedings{icml2026_what_53157,
  title = {{What Reward Structure Enables Efficient Sparse-Reward RL? A Proof-of-Concept with Policy-Aware Matrix Completion}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=cduIGjPW5Q},
}

@inproceedings{iclr2026_graph_86985,
  title = {{Graph-Theoretic Intrinsic Reward: Guiding RL with Effective Resistance}},
  booktitle = {International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://openreview.net/forum?id=W8bKDPf1Ko},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2026_learning_90993,
  title = {{Learning Process Rewards via Visitation Matching for Efficient RL}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://neurips.cc/virtual/2026/poster/150545},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2026_waterfall_91895,
  title = {{WATERFALL: Workflow for Adaptive Training with Evolutionary Reward Formulation and Automated Learning Loops}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://neurips.cc/virtual/2026/poster/152415},
}

@inproceedings{neurips2026_addressing_94270,
  title = {{Addressing Sparse-Rewards in RL with Scalable Hierarchical Novel Eigen Options}},
  booktitle = {Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS)},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://neurips.cc/virtual/2026/poster/150071},
}