It is our great honor and pleasure to dedicate this special issue of the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy to Professor Richard P. Van Duyne (1945–2019). Van Duyne is well known for his discovery and advancement of surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), thereby creating a field of research that continues to be vibrant over 40 years after its initial discovery. This issue includes papers that cover the three main research directions related to SERS, namely, theory, methodology, and applications, and it also features the fruitful abundance of SERS applications that have been developed in bioanalysis, biosensing, pharmaceutical analysis, food safety, environmental safety, electrochemistry, materials, and catalysis. The following figure shows the growth of the SERS field, using a number of publications as the metric, since 1997. In the past 5 years, over 2000 SERS‐related manuscripts have been published each year.

The 32 invited articles in this issue are from Richard's former students, collaborators, and friends. These research results paint an exciting picture of modern SERS as a fast‐developing methodology in both fundamental and applied scientific research.

A highlight of this issue is the first paper, written by Prof. George C. Schatz. As a long‐term friend and the most intimate collaborator of Van Duyne, Schatz reviews and summarizes Van Duyne's significant contributions to SERS and other related fields. Starting with a short biography, Schatz then reviews Van Duyne's leading contributions to the discovery and development of SERS as well as pioneering work on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), tip‐enhanced Raman scattering (TERS), electrochemical surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)/TERS, and ultrafast nonlinear techniques.^[1]

The second paper by Moskovits and Piorek is also important, giving a brief history of SERS and its connection with localized surface plasmon excitation. Being a pioneer in understanding the surface plasmon's role in SERS, Moskovits' retrospective about the discovery of SERS and the development of the electromagnetic enhancement mechanism is highly valuable for all readers, especially for newcomers to this field.^[2]

The other 30 articles are classified into the three SERS research themes mentioned earlier: theory, methods, and applications. However, some articles cover more than one theme, as is appropriate for this interdisciplinary topic. Indeed, synergistic efforts have played a key role in advancing SERS research.

我们很荣幸能将本期《拉曼光谱学》杂志投稿致Richard P. Van Duyne教授（1945–2019）。Van Duyne因发现和增强了表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）而广为人知，从而创建了一个研究领域，该领域在最初发现后40年来一直充满活力。本期的论文涵盖了与SERS相关的三个主要研究方向，即理论，方法和应用，并且还介绍了在生物分析，生物传感，药物分析，食品安全，环境方面开发的SERS应用的丰硕成果安全，电化学，材料和催化。下图显示了自1997年以来使用大量出版物作为指标的SERS领域的增长。在过去的5年中，每年已出版超过2000篇与SERS相关的手稿。

本期的32篇受邀文章来自Richard以前的学生，合作者和朋友。这些研究结果描绘了现代SERS令人兴奋的一幕，它是基础科学研究和应用科学研究中一种快速发展的方法。

这个问题的重点是乔治·沙茨（George C. Schatz）教授撰写的第一篇论文。作为Van Duyne的长期朋友和最亲密的合作者，Schatz回顾并总结了Van Duyne在SERS和其他相关领域中的重要贡献。Schatz首先写了简短的传记，然后回顾了Van Duyne对SERS的发现和开发的领先贡献，以及在局部表面等离振子共振（LSPR），尖端增强拉曼散射（TERS），电化学表面增强拉曼散射（ SERS）/ TERS，以及超快非线性技术。^{[ 1 ]}

Moskovits和Piorek撰写的第二篇论文也很重要，简要介绍了SERS的历史以及它与局部表面等离子体激元激发的关系。作为了解表面等离子体激元在SERS中的作用的先驱，Moskovits关于SERS发现和电磁增强机制发展的回顾对所有读者，特别是对该领域的新手来说都是非常有价值的。^{[ 2 ]}

其他30篇文章分为前面提到的三个SERS研究主题：理论，方法和应用。但是，一些文章涵盖了不止一个主题，这适合该跨学科主题。确实，协同努力在推进SERS研究中发挥了关键作用。