# Synthetic reasoning data and bootstrapping

Area: [Synthetic data and self-improvement for LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/synth/index.md). HTML: https://mlsanity.com/synth/synthetic-reasoning-data-and-bootstrapping/

## Key facts

- Synthetic reasoning data and bootstrapping: 165 papers on arXiv since 2021 (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- 32 of its 165 mapped papers (19%) cite “STaR: Bootstrapping Reasoning With Reasoning” (2022, arXiv 2203.14465).
- 17 of its 165 mapped papers (10%) cite “Large Language Models Can Self-Improve” (2022, arXiv 2210.11610).
- 3 new papers 17 Sep–14 Oct.

## Most cited here

- [STaR: Bootstrapping Reasoning With Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14465/) (2022), cited by 32 papers here
- [Large Language Models Can Self-Improve](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.11610/) (2022), cited by 17 papers here
- [MetaMath: Bootstrap Your Own Mathematical Questions for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.12284/) (2023), cited by 15 papers here
- [Beyond Human Data: Scaling Self-Training for Problem-Solving with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06585/) (2023), cited by 11 papers here
- [R-Zero: Self-Evolving Reasoning LLM from Zero Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.05004/) (2025), cited by 10 papers here
- [MathGenie: Generating Synthetic Data with Question Back-translation for Enhancing Mathematical Reasoning of LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16352/) (2024), cited by 8 papers here
- [Qwen2.5-Math Technical Report: Toward Mathematical Expert Model via Self-Improvement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12122/) (2024), cited by 8 papers here
- [Key-Point-Driven Data Synthesis with its Enhancement on Mathematical Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02333/) (2024), cited by 6 papers here
- [JiuZhang3.0: Efficiently Improving Mathematical Reasoning by Training Small Data Synthesis Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.14365/) (2024), cited by 6 papers here
- [rStar-Math: Small LLMs Can Master Math Reasoning with Self-Evolved Deep Thinking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.04519/) (2025), cited by 6 papers here

## New (17 Sep–14 Oct)

- [A Self-Improving Agent that Grows its Own DSL: Oracle-Free Operator Induction for Exact Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.20809/) (2026-10-14)
- [Learning from Self-Generated Responses: Reliability--Uncertainty Self-Distillation for Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.19176/) (2026-10-13)
- [Ladders of Thought: A Self-Evolving Curriculum of Progressively Simplified Reasoning Traces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.25643/) (2026-09-22)