{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7147279079","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","title":"Long-Document QA with Chain-of-Structured-Thought and Fine-Tuned SLMs","display_name":"Long-Document QA with Chain-of-Structured-Thought and Fine-Tuned SLMs","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-03-31","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7147279079","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132550167","display_name":"Zhuowen Liang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Liang, Zhuowen","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132595891","display_name":"Xiaotian Lin","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lin, Xiaotian","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5084540711","display_name":"Zhengxuan Zhang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3370-1976"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhang, Zhengxuan","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132720352","display_name":"Yuyu Luo","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Luo, Yuyu","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5063351917","display_name":"Haixun Wang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0773-7004"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wang, Haixun","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5132694915","display_name":"Nan Tang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Tang, Nan","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":6,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5132550167"],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.3634999990463257,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.3634999990463257,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13910","display_name":"Computational and Text Analysis Methods","score":0.10849999636411667,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3300","display_name":"General Social Sciences"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10181","display_name":"Natural Language Processing Techniques","score":0.094200000166893,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/pillar","display_name":"Pillar","score":0.522599995136261},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/process","display_name":"Process (computing)","score":0.5001999735832214},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/language-model","display_name":"Language model","score":0.4560999870300293},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/quality-assurance","display_name":"Quality assurance","score":0.45399999618530273},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/verifiable-secret-sharing","display_name":"Verifiable secret sharing","score":0.45159998536109924},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/data-quality","display_name":"Data quality","score":0.4221000075340271},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/latency","display_name":"Latency (audio)","score":0.41769999265670776},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/quality","display_name":"Quality (philosophy)","score":0.40130001306533813}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7400000095367432},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C105289051","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1930094","display_name":"Pillar","level":2,"score":0.522599995136261},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C98045186","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q205663","display_name":"Process (computing)","level":2,"score":0.5001999735832214},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137293760","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3621696","display_name":"Language model","level":2,"score":0.4560999870300293},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C106436119","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q836575","display_name":"Quality assurance","level":3,"score":0.45399999618530273},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.45210000872612},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C85847156","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q59015987","display_name":"Verifiable secret sharing","level":3,"score":0.45159998536109924},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C24756922","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1757694","display_name":"Data quality","level":3,"score":0.4221000075340271},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C82876162","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17096504","display_name":"Latency (audio)","level":2,"score":0.41769999265670776},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779530757","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1207505","display_name":"Quality (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.40130001306533813},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C75291252","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1315756","display_name":"TRACE (psycholinguistics)","level":2,"score":0.3874000012874603},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780598303","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65921492","display_name":"Flexibility (engineering)","level":2,"score":0.385699987411499},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.3790999948978424},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C44291984","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1074173","display_name":"Question answering","level":2,"score":0.3644999861717224},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C124101348","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172491","display_name":"Data mining","level":1,"score":0.33340001106262207},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776760102","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5139990","display_name":"Code (set theory)","level":3,"score":0.31279999017715454},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C67186912","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q367664","display_name":"Data modeling","level":2,"score":0.31119999289512634},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.31060001254081726},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C79158427","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q485396","display_name":"Analytics","level":2,"score":0.30730000138282776},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C43126263","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q128751","display_name":"Source code","level":2,"score":0.2906000018119812},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C160920958","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7662746","display_name":"Synthetic data","level":2,"score":0.274399995803833},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C115903868","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80993","display_name":"Software engineering","level":1,"score":0.27160000801086426},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C174348530","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188635","display_name":"Bridging (networking)","level":2,"score":0.2712000012397766},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.2662999927997589},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C71405471","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q757012","display_name":"Quality management","level":3,"score":0.2651999890804291},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C123201435","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q456632","display_name":"Information privacy","level":2,"score":0.2581000030040741},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C93983250","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q795053","display_name":"Cost estimate","level":2,"score":0.2500999867916107}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.29232","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"score":0.41111841797828674,"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/16","display_name":"Peace, Justice and strong institutions"}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Large":[0],"language":[1,65],"models":[2,66,122],"(LLMs)":[3],"are":[4,123],"widely":[5],"applied":[6],"to":[7,44,55,85],"data":[8,128],"analytics":[9],"over":[10,15],"documents,":[11],"yet":[12],"direct":[13],"reasoning":[14],"long,":[16],"noisy":[17],"documents":[18],"remains":[19],"brittle":[20],"and":[21,60,92,110,150,178],"error-prone.":[22],"Hence,":[23],"we":[24],"study":[25],"document":[26],"question":[27],"answering":[28],"(QA)":[29],"that":[30,80],"consolidates":[31],"dispersed":[32],"evidence":[33],"into":[34,157],"a":[35,39,51,74,77,82,88,100],"structured":[36,95],"output":[37],"(e.g.,":[38],"table,":[40],"graph,":[41],"or":[42],"chunks)":[43],"support":[45],"reliable,":[46],"verifiable":[47],"QA.":[48],"We":[49,72],"propose":[50],"two-pillar":[52],"framework,":[53],"LiteCoST,":[54],"achieve":[56],"both":[57,87],"high":[58],"accuracy":[59],"low":[61],"latency":[62,175],"with":[63],"small":[64],"(SLMs).":[67],"Pillar":[68,116],"1:":[69],"Chain-of-Structured-Thought":[70],"(CoST).":[71],"introduce":[73],"CoST":[75,90,127],"template,":[76],"schema-aware":[78],"instruction":[79],"guides":[81],"strong":[83],"LLM":[84],"produce":[86],"step-wise":[89],"trace":[91],"the":[93,108],"corresponding":[94],"output.":[96],"The":[97,120,181],"process":[98,151],"induces":[99],"minimal":[101],"structure,":[102],"normalizes":[103],"entities/units,":[104],"aligns":[105],"records,":[106],"serializes":[107],"output,":[109],"verifies/refines":[111],"it,":[112],"yielding":[113],"auditable":[114],"supervision.":[115],"2:":[117],"SLM":[118],"fine-tuning.":[119],"compact":[121],"trained":[124],"on":[125,164],"LLM-generated":[126],"in":[129],"two":[130],"stages:":[131],"Supervised":[132],"Fine-Tuning":[133],"for":[134,147],"structural":[135],"alignment,":[136],"followed":[137],"by":[138],"Group":[139],"Relative":[140],"Policy":[141],"Optimization":[142],"(GRPO)":[143],"incorporating":[144],"triple":[145],"rewards":[146],"answer/format":[148],"quality":[149,163],"consistency.":[152],"By":[153],"distilling":[154],"structure-first":[155],"behavior":[156],"SLMs,":[158,170],"this":[159],"approach":[160],"achieves":[161],"LLM-comparable":[162],"multi-domain":[165],"long-document":[166],"QA":[167],"using":[168],"3B/7B":[169],"while":[171],"delivering":[172],"2-4x":[173],"lower":[174],"than":[176],"GPT-4o":[177],"DeepSeek-R1":[179],"(671B).":[180],"code":[182],"is":[183],"available":[184],"at":[185],"https://github.com/HKUSTDial/LiteCoST.":[186]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-04-02T13:53:19.096889","created_date":"2026-04-02T00:00:00"}