20th International Colloquium on Scanning Probe Microscopy (ICSPM20) was held from December 17 through 19, 2012 at Naha, Okinawa, Japan. The ICSPM series, which celebrated its 20th anniversary here, was established in 1985 as a domestic meeting of Thin Film and Surface Physics Division, The Japan Society of Applied Physics, and later in 1993 was extended internationally. Its aim is to collect newest research outputs related to scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques from wide variety of fields and to promote mutual understanding of researchers in the community. During the past 20 years the ICSPM series has seen progress of SPM technique and its permeation into a variety of research fields. Today diversity of SPM application in these research fields is such that opportunities for SPM researchers to meet together and share knowledge are hardly expectable. Thus ICSPM20 accommodated 148 participants including 26 from overseas. The participants enjoyed a total of 108 papers, 38 oral and 70 posters, presented there. These works cover wide variety of research subjects like solid surfaces, molecular and organic systems, magnetism, microscopic mechanical properties, biological systems, as well as technical innovations in SPM. I would like to express my gratitude to the authors for enriching this issue with their intensive works, and hope that the readers can enjoy these newest outcomes from SPM-related researches.
Masami Kageshima
Publication Committee, ICSPM20
Department of Physics, Kansai Medical University
