1 Archaeoparasitological research has rapidly developed in re- cent years, entering a new stage of improved understanding of our ancestors’ parasitic infections across the world. This prog- ress is based on a variety of recently developed research tech- niques. During a period of rapid innovation since 2016, there has been no much opportunity for parasitologists to gather and share in-depth views about this novel research field. This was remedied by the 14th International Congress of Parasitol- ogy (ICOPA) held in Korea (Aug 19-24, 2018; EXCO, Daegu). For archaeoparasitologists, ICOPA provided a unique oppor- tunity to gather and exchange research and ideas. The partici- pation was unprecedented in numbers of attendees and diver- sity of papers presented. The three sessions were organized un- der the unified theme of "A global perspective on ancient para- sites: current research projects". In the sessions, a number of landmark studies were presented by parasitologists, archaeolo- gists, and paleopathologists from South Korea as well as many other countries worldwide. During the last decades, the summaries of significant ad- vances in theory and method have periodically appeared in different journal special issues dedicated to archaeoparasitolo- gy [1-3]. The case studies from these issues improved our un- derstanding of the history of parasites and the diversity of par- asite populations over time. However, since most recently, re- search expanded geographically as well as methodologically, now is a fitting time to update the field in a new, dedicated volume. Therefore, to commemorate the event of ICOPA in Korea, and to present some of the most informed trends in ar- chaeoparasitology, we planned the publication of a special is- sue under the title "a global perspective on ancient parasites and current research projects." Multiple articles in this special issue address the emergence of ancient parasitism, infection maintenance, and disease de- cline in different human groups. For East Asia, Zhan et al. trace the change of parasite infection rates in China and Korea for the past 2,000 years. They observed that the prevalence of Clo- norchis sinensis in Korea and China dropped earlier than did Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura during the 20th cen- tury. Yeh et al. also did a detailed research on the parasitism prevalent among Japanese police officers in Taiwan from 1920 to 1944, by the examination of latrine samples from the police station site. Seo et al. dealt with the late 19th century clinical report of Horace N. Allen, a physician and an American Pres- byterian missionary. Allen once described many hemoptysis cases of Korean outpatients, assuming that they might have been mostly caused by paragonimiasis. The authors revisited the Allen’s assumption with clinical parasitological data re- cently obtained from Joseon period mummies. Some authors in this issue contributed the articles about an- cient parasitism in Europe. Eskew et al. reveal the species of parasites that affected the inhabitants of the city of Acre during the Ottoman Period, by the analysis of the latrine sediment of the Ottoman Empire dating to the early 1800s. Dufour et al. carried out research on 5th to 9th century Merovingian speci- mens. They revealed the presence of gastrointestinal parasites, contributing to a better knowledge of parasitism among an- ISSN (Print) 0023-4001 ISSN (Online) 1738-0006 Korean J Parasitol Vol. 57, No. 6: 1-2, December 2019 https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2019.57.6.1 ▣ PREFACE • @ * Corresponding author (cjy@snu.ac.kr) © 2019, Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preface for special issue on archaeoparasitology: A global perspective on ancient parasites and current research projects Jong Yil Chai 1,2, *, Min Seo 3 , Karl Reinhard 4 , Dong Hoon Shin 5 1 Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; 2 Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Korea Association of Health Promotion, Seoul, Korea; 3 Department of Parasitology, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea; 4 School of Natural Resource Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA; 5 Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea