An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes: a carrier; a forming unit which forms an image on a carrier; a cleaning unit which cleans the carrier; a detection unit which detects a correction pattern formed on the carrier; and a control unit which performs a correction processing including cleaning a pattern forming region in the carrier by the cleaning unit, forming the correction pattern in the pattern forming region by the forming unit after finishing the cleaning by the cleaning unit, and correcting an image forming characteristic of the forming unit based on a detection result of the correction pattern by the detection unit.