Provided is an image forming method using an electrophotographic photoreceptor provided with a photosensitive layer and a protective layer in this order on a conductive support, and a toner, and the image forming method containing a charging step, an exposure step, a development step, a transfer step, a fixing step, and a cleaning step, wherein the protective layer contains at least a cured resin obtained by curing a polymerizable compound; the toner contains 50% by number or more of toner particles having a shape factor calculated by the equation (1) in the range of 1.2 to 1.6, and a variation coefficient of the shape factor is 16% or less; and the toner contains alumina particles having a number average particle diameter in the range of 5 to 60 nm and silica particles having a number average particle diameter in the range of 80 to 200 nm.

A toner is provided which includes: a toner base particle including a binder resin; and an external additive including inorganic particles. A particle size distribution of primary particles of the inorganic particles has a plurality of peaks in the range of from 5 nm through 50 nm. The particle size distribution of the primary particles satisfies all of expressions (1) to (3) below:
n1d>n2d  (1);
10<(n1d+n2d)  (2); and
30≤{(n2h/n1h)×100}<100  (3), where n1d is a particle diameter (nm) at a peak n1 which is the highest peak among the plurality of peaks and n2d is a particle diameter (nm) of a peak n2 which is the second highest peak among the plurality of peaks, and n1h is a height of the peak n1 and n2h is a height of the peak n2.

A toner for electrostatic image development contains: toner base particles containing at least a nonionic surfactant, a binder resin, and a release agent; and an external additive. The content of the nonionic surfactant is from 0.05% by mass to 1% by mass inclusive based on the total mass of the toner, and the external additive contains tin oxide particles.

An electrostatic charge image development toner contains toner particles and layered-structure compound particles. The layered-structure compound particles have a crystallite diameter of 150 Å or more and 250 Å or less as calculated from a maximum peak width in a Cu Kα X-ray diffraction chart and have a number-average particle diameter Dn of 0.3 μm or more and 2.0 μm or less. The ratio Dn/Dv of a number-average particle diameter Dn of the layered-structure compound particles to a volume-average particle diameter Dv of the toner particles is 0.03 or more and 0.7 or less.

An electrostatic-image developing toner includes toner particles, layered compound particles, and inorganic particles. The inorganic particles have an average circularity of 0.910 or more and 0.995 or less. A ratio Da/Db of a number-average particle size Da of the layered compound particles to a number-average particle size Db of the inorganic particles is 1.2 or more and 43 or less.

An electrostatic charge image development toner that is negatively chargeable contains toner particles and layered-structure compound particles. The layered-structure compound particles have a volume-average particle diameter Da of 0.4 μm or more and less than 3.0 μm. The ratio Da/Db of the volume-average particle diameter Da of the layered-structure compound particles to the volume-average particle diameter Db of the toner particles is 0.044 or more and 0.625 or less.

An electrostatic-image developing toner includes toner particles, aggregated silica particles A treated with an oil, and aggregated or non-aggregated silica particles B rendered hydrophobic with a hydrophobizing agent other than an oil. The average particle size Da of the aggregated silica particles A and the average particle size Db of the silica particles B satisfy Da≥Db. The electrostatic-image developing toner does not include any external additive other than the aggregated silica particles A or the silica particles B, or the electrostatic-image developing toner includes an external additive other than the aggregated silica particles A or the silica particles B, the other external additive having an average particle size smaller than the average particle size Da.

A toner for developing an electrostatic charge image contains toner particles, layered-compound particles, and inorganic particles. The percentage Fa of layered-compound particles free from the toner particles is 5% by volume or more and 20% by volume or less.

A carrier for a developer includes carrier particles. The carrier particles have a sea island structure including a sea portion and an island portion on the surface. The island portion contains a nitrogen-containing silicone resin. The sea portion contains a nitrogen-free silicone resin. The area ratio of the island portion in the total area of the surface of the carrier particle is 20% or more and 40% or less.

A toner having: a toner particle containing a binder resin including a first resin that is a crystalline resin and a second resin that is an amorphous resin; and a fine particle on a surface of the toner particle, wherein the first resin contains a specific ratio of a specific monomer unit, an acid value of the first resin and an acid value of the second resin are within specific ranges, a domain-matrix structure formed of a matrix containing the first resin and domains containing the second resin appears in cross-sectional observation of the toner, and the fine particle has on the surface a compound containing nitrogen atoms bound or adsorbed thereon.