Cluster Analyses of a Target Data Set from the IFCS Cluster Benchmark Data Repository: Introduction to the Special Issue

After a brief introduction to benchmarking in data analysis in general and in cluster analysis in particular, we describe the setup of the IFCS Cluster Benchmark Data Repository along with two challenges connected with it. The first of these challenges called for data sets to be contributed to the repository; the second one pertained to cluster analyses of the winning data set of the first challenge. Subsequently, we introduce the winning data set of the first challenge together with relevant meta-data. We conclude with a brief description of the organization of the present special issue, which comprises reports of analyses that have been submitted as contributions to the second challenge.