In this paper, the problem of stable energy-efficient partner selection in cooperative wireless networks is studied. Each node aims to be paired with another node so as to minimize the total energy consumption required to meet a target end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio requirement and thus maintain quality of service. Specifically, each node ranks every other node in the network according to their energy saving achievable through cooperation. Two polynomial time complexity algorithms based on the stable roommates matching problem are proposed through which nodes are paired according to their preference lists. The first algorithm, denoted Irving's stable matching, may not always have a stable solution. Therefore, the second algorithmwhich is a modified version of Irving's algorithm and denoted maximum stable matching-is proposed to find the maximum number of stable disjoint pairs. Simulation results are provided to validate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms in comparison with centralized energy-efficient partner selection as well as other matching algorithms, yielding a trade-off between stability and total energy consumption, but comparable symbol error rate performance and network sum rate. M. W. BAIDAS AND M. M. AFGHAH controller, along with appropriate feedback channels in order to perform optimal partner/relay selection [3]. However, this may introduce significant delays and communication overheads. In ad hoc wireless networks, where a centralized controller does not exist, network nodes must exchange their CSI and follow a distributed algorithm for cooperation and/or partner selection, such that full network cooperative diversity is exploited. Additionally, the distributed algorithm must be carefully designed so as to reduce computational complexity at each node as well as the network communication overheads [4].There have been several research works considering partner pairing and relay selection in cooperative wireless networks. For instance, user pairing in network-coded cooperative networks is studied in [5] to maximize network throughput, reduce outage probability, and achieve fairness. In [6], optimal power allocation is studied to minimize overall network energy consumption rate by appropriately grouping users and setting their power levels to meet their QoS requirements. Furthermore, the authors study the locations of optimal partners and how they can be matched to maximize network energy gains. Energy-efficient relay selection based on relay locations for amplify-andforward networks is studied in [7]. Specifically, the authors devise a low-complexity algorithm to determine the approximate optimal locations and then select the relays that are nearest to these locations such that transmission power is minimized while achieving a specific symbol error rate (SER) requirement. In [8], the authors illustrate that the best-select relaying achieves significant gains in energy efficiency although it consumes more circuit power than direct transmission (DTX). Additionally, it has been shown that optima...