The papers in this volume were presented at the workshop “Topic Map Research and Applications 2005” held on October 6-7, 2005, in Leipzig. TMRA 2005 was the first workshop of an annual series of international workshops dedicated to topic maps in research and industry. As the motto “Charting the Topic Maps Research and Applications Landscape” suggests, the aim of TMRA 2005 was to identify the primary open issues in research, learn about who is working on what, bring together researchers and application pioneers, stimulate the systematic tackling of such issues, and foster the exchange of ideas in a stimulating setting. Besides the scientific track, open-space sessions were foreseen as playgrounds for visionaries. A report from this look into future is added to this volume. TMRA 2005 was organised by the Zentrum für Informations-, Wissens- und Dienstleistungsmanagement Leipzig to support exchange of experiences, results, and technology in the field of topic maps. The 24 papers (1 invited, 17 full papers, 5 work-in-progress reports, and 1 report on the open-space sessions) presented at TMRA 2005 and in the present volume were selected from more than 35 submissions. Every submission was carefully reviewed by three members of the Program Committee. Before publishing, the editors introduced an additional editorial loop after the workshop to ensure the highest quality and latest insights.