It's TIME: Towards the Next Generation of Time Series Forecasting Benchmarks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Qiao, Zhongzheng, Pan, Sheng, Wang, Anni, Zhukova, Viktoriya, Liu, Yong, Jiang, Xudong, Wen, Qingsong, Long, Mingsheng, Jin, Ming, Liu, Chenghao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Qiao, Zhongzheng
Pan, Sheng
Wang, Anni
Zhukova, Viktoriya
Liu, Yong
Jiang, Xudong
Wen, Qingsong
Long, Mingsheng
Jin, Ming
Liu, Chenghao
author_facet Qiao, Zhongzheng
Pan, Sheng
Wang, Anni
Zhukova, Viktoriya
Liu, Yong
Jiang, Xudong
Wen, Qingsong
Long, Mingsheng
Jin, Ming
Liu, Chenghao
contents Time series foundation models (TSFMs) are revolutionizing the forecasting landscape from specific dataset modeling to generalizable task evaluation. However, we contend that existing benchmarks exhibit common limitations in four dimensions: constrained data composition dominated by reused legacy sources, compromised data integrity lacking rigorous quality assurance, misaligned task formulations detached from real-world contexts, and rigid analysis perspectives that obscure generalizable insights. To bridge these gaps, we introduce TIME, a next-generation task-centric benchmark comprising 50 fresh datasets and 98 forecasting tasks, tailored for strict zero-shot TSFM evaluation free from data leakage. Integrating large language models and human expertise, we establish a rigorous human-in-the-loop benchmark construction pipeline to ensure high data integrity and redefine task formulation by aligning forecasting configurations with real-world operational requirements and variate predictability. Furthermore, we propose a novel pattern-level evaluation perspective that moves beyond traditional dataset-level evaluations based on static meta labels. By leveraging structural time series features to characterize intrinsic temporal properties, this approach offers generalizable insights into model capabilities across diverse patterns. We evaluate 12 representative TSFMs and establish a multi-granular leaderboard to facilitate in-depth analysis and visualized inspection. The leaderboard is available at https://huggingface.co/spaces/Real-TSF/TIME-leaderboard.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_12147
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle It's TIME: Towards the Next Generation of Time Series Forecasting Benchmarks
Qiao, Zhongzheng
Pan, Sheng
Wang, Anni
Zhukova, Viktoriya
Liu, Yong
Jiang, Xudong
Wen, Qingsong
Long, Mingsheng
Jin, Ming
Liu, Chenghao
Machine Learning
Time series foundation models (TSFMs) are revolutionizing the forecasting landscape from specific dataset modeling to generalizable task evaluation. However, we contend that existing benchmarks exhibit common limitations in four dimensions: constrained data composition dominated by reused legacy sources, compromised data integrity lacking rigorous quality assurance, misaligned task formulations detached from real-world contexts, and rigid analysis perspectives that obscure generalizable insights. To bridge these gaps, we introduce TIME, a next-generation task-centric benchmark comprising 50 fresh datasets and 98 forecasting tasks, tailored for strict zero-shot TSFM evaluation free from data leakage. Integrating large language models and human expertise, we establish a rigorous human-in-the-loop benchmark construction pipeline to ensure high data integrity and redefine task formulation by aligning forecasting configurations with real-world operational requirements and variate predictability. Furthermore, we propose a novel pattern-level evaluation perspective that moves beyond traditional dataset-level evaluations based on static meta labels. By leveraging structural time series features to characterize intrinsic temporal properties, this approach offers generalizable insights into model capabilities across diverse patterns. We evaluate 12 representative TSFMs and establish a multi-granular leaderboard to facilitate in-depth analysis and visualized inspection. The leaderboard is available at https://huggingface.co/spaces/Real-TSF/TIME-leaderboard.
title It's TIME: Towards the Next Generation of Time Series Forecasting Benchmarks
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.12147