  We present a study of the relative orientation between the magnetic field
projected onto the plane of sky ($B_{\perp}$) on scales down to 0.4 pc,
inferred from the polarized thermal emission of Galactic dust observed by
Planck at 353 GHz, and the distribution of gas column density ($N_{\rm H}$)
structures on scales down to 0.026 pc, derived from the observations by
Herschel in submillimeter wavelengths, toward ten nearby ($d$$<$450 pc)
molecular clouds. Using the histogram of relative orientation technique in
combination with tools from circular statistics, we found that the mean
relative orientation between $N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ toward these regions
increases progressively from 0\deg, where the $N_{\rm H}$ structures lie mostly
parallel to $B_{\perp}$, with increasing $N_{\rm H}$, in many cases reaching
90\deg, where the $N_{\rm H}$ structures lie mostly perpendicular to
$B_{\perp}$. We also compared the relative orientation between $N_{\rm H}$ and
$B_{\perp}$ and the distribution of $N_{\rm H}$, which is characterized by the
slope of the tail of the $N_{\rm H}$ probability density functions (PDFs). We
found that the slopes of the $N_{\rm H}$ PDF tail are steepest in regions where
$N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ are close to perpendicular. This coupling between
the $N_{\rm H}$ distribution and the magnetic field suggests that the magnetic
fields play a significant role in structuring the interstellar medium in and
around molecular clouds. However, we found no evident correlation between the
star formation rates, estimated from the counts of young stellar objects, and
the relative orientation between $N_{\rm H}$ and $B_{\perp}$ in these regions.
