IFIR: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Evaluating Instruction-Following in
  Expert-Domain Information Retrieval
Authors: name: Tingyu Song; name: Guo Gan; name: Mingsheng Shang; name: Yilun Zhao
Published: 2025-03-06 17:32:22

Abstract: We introduce IFIR, the first comprehensive benchmark designed to evaluate
instruction-following information retrieval (IR) in expert domains. IFIR
includes 2,426 high-quality examples and covers eight subsets across four
specialized domains: finance, law, healthcare, and science literature. Each
subset addresses one or more domain-specific retrieval tasks, replicating
real-world scenarios where customized instructions are critical. IFIR enables a
detailed analysis of instruction-following retrieval capabilities by
incorporating instructions at different levels of complexity. We also propose a
novel LLM-based evaluation method to provide a more precise and reliable
assessment of model performance in following instructions. Through extensive
experiments on 15 frontier retrieval models, including those based on LLMs, our
results reveal that current models face significant challenges in effectively
following complex, domain-specific instructions. We further provide in-depth
analyses to highlight these limitations, offering valuable insights to guide
future advancements in retriever development.