18世紀末以來，客家族群的議題逐漸受到重視，尤其是西方的傳教士與各地的客藉知識分子投入許多精力，辦學會、出雜誌，探討客家族群形成的歷史成因，分析客家族群特有的精神氣質，思考客家族群的共同命運。近年來，臺灣有五所國立大學成立了客家學院和相關系所，培養許多高階的客家研究人才，每年的學位論文、研討會論文成級數成長，學者的研究成果與專書出版量亦同。臺灣之外，日本、馬來西亞、新加坡等各地也都出現客家研究團隊，帶來豐富的研究成果，客家族群的原鄉中國大陸更是出現許多客家研究的機構與研究團隊。

躬逢客家研究蓬勃的今天，我們極需一個全球客家研究溝通交流的平臺，特別是一種沒有地理界線、不受時空拘束的交流平臺。面對全球客家的多樣性與區域性，客家研究需要進行比較研究，需要跨學科的研究方法、觀點和理論，更需要跨領域的對話，才能進一步提昇客家研究。本刊採取雙盲學術審查機制，徵求研究論文、研究紀要、田野紀要、書評等作品。此外，本刊也提供全球各地客家研究平臺的介紹與研究資源分享，在文字上同時採用中文、英文與客家語的作品。

全球客家研究的出刊，除了致力於推動臺灣客家社會研究之外，期待與海外客家社區、客家原鄉有更多的對話。本刊物為半年刊，採取紙本和線上雙軌並行方式出版，對作者和一些機構發行少量紙本期刊，對全球客家學者將提供單篇論文免費下載，以及整本期刊電子書下載的方式。藉由發行國際性的客家專業學術性期刊，期待提高客家研究的學術地位、匯集國際相關領域的學者、促進學術交流，以建構多元、全球視野的客家知識體系。

Since the end of the 18th century, the issues on the Hakka as being an ethnic group have become important inside and outside the academia. Many Western missionaries and the Hakka intellectuals devoted themselves into the research of the origins and the unique ethos of the Hakka, and established academic associations and published magazines for the promotion of the Hakka issues. In recent years, given the importance of the Hakka issues, five national universities in Taiwan have established institutions related to the Hakka studies. The main purpose of these institutions is to provide the training courses for the Hakka studies and encourage the research of the Hakka issues. Given these efforts, the number of the degree theses, seminar papers, the books and other kinds of research reports related to the Hakka issues has increased dramatically year by year. In addition to Taiwan, we can also see the growing interest of the Hakka studies and a great wealth of research outputs in Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and the Mainland China.

At this moment when the Hakka studies is booming all over the world, it is critical for us to build a platform by which researchers of different disciplines and from different countries can share their knowledge of the Hakka. In view of the diversities and the locality of the Hakka communities, we hope this platform could also encourage the comparative and interdisciplinary research in future. The purpose of Global Hakka Studies, therefore, is to promote an international dialogue and inspire collaboration in the field of Hakka Studies and to draw attention to the issues of ethnicity, migration, diaspora, and the debates between the global and the local.

Global Hakka Studies is a biannual Journal. We welcome articles of all disciplines concerning the issues affecting the Hakka and Hakka communities. The types of article we are looking for include: "Research Papers," "Research/ Fieldwork Notes," "Book Review/ Commentary," and the introduction of "Hakka Communities and Research institutes." Articles may be written in Chinese, English or Hakka.

The publishing of Global Hakka Studies not only aims to promote the Hakka research in Taiwan, but also to provide the Hakka communities in Mainland China and overseas with a platform for communication. This twice-yearly publication will be presented in both printed and online versions. Except for the authors and selected institutions, who will receive printed version of the journal, all the readers could access the journal papers via our website. By becoming the members of the journal, the readers could download the full text of each article or the whole issue online.