The ?eld of ferroelectricity is a very active one. Many hundreds of papers in this ?eld are published each year and a large number of local and international conferences are held. We felt that it wouldbeappropriate at this time to publish a set of papers in a single journal describing some of the most active areas in the ?eld. The Journal of Materials Science agreed to publish a special issue on ferroelectricity. Accordingly, we sent requests for papers to a number of research groups around the world. It was diff?culttoselect a small number of groups from among the many excellent ones in the...