# Adaptive Adapter Routing for Long-Tailed Class-Incremental Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.07446 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.07446/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 33 of its 45 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Sep 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 33)

- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [Distilling the Knowledge in a Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.02531/) (2015)
- [ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.0575/) (2014)
- [Learning without Forgetting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.09282/) (2016)
- [iCaRL: Incremental Classifier and Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07725/) (2016)
- [The Many Faces of Robustness: A Critical Analysis of Out-of-Distribution Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.16241/) (2020)
- [Visual Prompt Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.12119/) (2022)
- [Class-Balanced Loss Based on Effective Number of Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.05555/) (2019)
- [Learning to Prompt for Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.08654/) (2021)
- [Decoupling Representation and Classifier for Long-Tailed Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.09217/) (2019)
- [AdaptFormer: Adapting Vision Transformers for Scalable Visual Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.13535/) (2022)
- [Large-Scale Long-Tailed Recognition in an Open World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05160/) (2019)
- [DualPrompt: Complementary Prompting for Rehearsal-free Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04799/) (2022)
- [End-to-End Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.09536/) (2018)
- [CODA-Prompt: COntinual Decomposed Attention-based Prompting for Rehearsal-Free Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.13218/) (2022)
- [Deep Long-Tailed Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04596/) (2021)
- [BBN: Bilateral-Branch Network with Cumulative Learning for Long-Tailed Visual Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.02413/) (2019)
- [DER: Dynamically Expandable Representation for Class Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.16788/) (2021)
- [Pre-Trained Models: Past, Present and Future](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.07139/) (2021)
- [FOSTER: Feature Boosting and Compression for Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04662/) (2022)
- [Class-Incremental Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03648/) (2023)
- [Revisiting Class-Incremental Learning with Pre-Trained Models: Generalizability and Adaptivity are All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07338/) (2023)
- [A Model or 603 Exemplars: Towards Memory-Efficient Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.13218/) (2022)
- [Continual Learning with Pre-Trained Models: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.16386/) (2024)
- [Expandable Subspace Ensemble for Pre-Trained Model-Based Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.12030/) (2024)
- [Self-Promoted Prototype Refinement for Few-Shot Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.08918/) (2021)
- [Long-Tail Learning with Foundation Model: Heavy Fine-Tuning Hurts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.10019/) (2023)
- [Few-Shot Class-Incremental Learning via Training-Free Prototype Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.05229/) (2023)
- [Robust Long-Tailed Learning under Label Noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.11569/) (2021)
- [Long-Tailed Class Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.00266/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Dual Consolidation for Pre-Trained Model-Based Domain-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.00911/) (2024)
- [Addressing Imbalanced Domain-Incremental Learning through Dual-Balance Collaborative Experts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07100/) (2025)
- [External Knowledge Injection for CLIP-Based Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.08510/) (2025)
- [Parameter-Efficient Continual Fine-Tuning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13822/) (2025)
- [Compensating Visual Insufficiency with Stratified Language Guidance for Long-Tail Class Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.21708/) (2026)
- [Dynamic Distillation and Gradient Consistency for Robust Long-Tailed Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.03364/) (2026)
- [Unlocking Patch-Level Features for CLIP-Based Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.13835/) (2026)
- [Visual Branch is What You Need for CLIP-based Class-Incremental Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.37888/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In our ever-evolving world, new data exhibits a long-tailed distribution, such as e-commerce platform reviews. This necessitates continuous model learning imbalanced data without forgetting, addressing the challenge of long-tailed class-incremental learning (LTCIL). Existing methods often rely on retraining linear classifiers with former data, which is impractical in real-world settings. In this paper, we harness the potent representation capabilities of pre-trained models and introduce AdaPtive Adapter RouTing (APART) as an exemplar-free solution for LTCIL. To counteract forgetting, we train inserted adapters with frozen pre-trained weights for deeper adaptation and maintain a pool of adapters for selection during sequential model updates. Additionally, we present an auxiliary adapter pool designed for effective generalization, especially on minority classes. Adaptive instance routing across these pools captures crucial correlations, facilitating a comprehensive representation of all classes. Consequently, APART tackles the imbalance problem as well as catastrophic forgetting in a unified framework. Extensive benchmark experiments validate the effectiveness of APART. Code is available at: https://github.com/vita-qzh/APART