Research Article

A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data

Number: 2026 July 20, 2026
TR EN

A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data

Abstract

Modelling time series data subject to irregularities, particularly right-censoring due to detection limits, poses significant statistical challenges. Traditional approaches often yield biased estimates or rely on strict distributional assumptions that rarely hold in real-world applications. In this study, a distribution-free imputation method based on Artificial Neural Networks is proposed to handle auto-correlated right-censored data and is compared with the established Gaussian Imputation technique, as well as k-nearest neighbors  and random forest  imputation. A comprehensive simulation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of all four methods under varying censoring levels (5%, 25%, and 50%) and two sample sizes, using root mean squared error, mean absolute error, and bias as performance metrics. The results demonstrate that while the methods perform comparably at low censoring levels, the proposed method based on artificial neural networks attains the lowest error and the smallest bias as the censoring rate increases, significantly outperforming the k-nearest neighbors and random forest benchmarks and improving on the Gaussian Imputation technique overall. These findings are confirmed by a pairwise Wilcoxon signed-rank test and by a real-data application to a heavily censored cloud-ceiling time series, in which the proposed method again achieves the best accuracy. By learning the underlying non-linear patterns directly from the data without manipulating the observed components, the proposed approach offers a robust and accurate alternative for completing right-censored time series datasets.  

Keywords

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Biostatistics, Soft Computing, Statistical Theory

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

July 20, 2026

Submission Date

December 23, 2025

Acceptance Date

July 20, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Number: 2026

APA
Bal, C., & Yılmaz, E. (2026). A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data. İstatistikçiler Dergisi:İstatistik Ve Aktüerya, 2026, 50-70. https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM
AMA
1.Bal C, Yılmaz E. A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data. JSSA. 2026;(2026):50-70. https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM
Chicago
Bal, Cagatay, and Ersin Yılmaz. 2026. “A Sequential Artifıcial Neural Network Approach for Imputation of Right-Censored Time Series Data”. İstatistikçiler Dergisi:İstatistik Ve Aktüerya, nos. 2026: 50-70. https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM.
EndNote
Bal C, Yılmaz E (July 1, 2026) A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data. İstatistikçiler Dergisi:İstatistik ve Aktüerya 2026 50–70.
IEEE
[1]C. Bal and E. Yılmaz, “A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data”, JSSA, no. 2026, pp. 50–70, July 2026, [Online]. Available: https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM
ISNAD
Bal, Cagatay - Yılmaz, Ersin. “A Sequential Artifıcial Neural Network Approach for Imputation of Right-Censored Time Series Data”. İstatistikçiler Dergisi:İstatistik ve Aktüerya. 2026 (July 1, 2026): 50-70. https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM.
JAMA
1.Bal C, Yılmaz E. A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data. JSSA. 2026;:50–70.
MLA
Bal, Cagatay, and Ersin Yılmaz. “A Sequential Artifıcial Neural Network Approach for Imputation of Right-Censored Time Series Data”. İstatistikçiler Dergisi:İstatistik Ve Aktüerya, no. 2026, July 2026, pp. 50-70, https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM.
Vancouver
1.Cagatay Bal, Ersin Yılmaz. A sequential artifıcial neural network approach for imputation of right-censored time series data. JSSA [Internet]. 2026 Jul. 1;(2026):50-7. Available from: https://izlik.org/JA38LF87SM