The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs is an academic journal covering a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing comprehensive coverage of contemporary developments in the entire Pacific Islands region, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

The journal was founded at the University of Hawaiʻi Center for Pacific Islands Studies under the directorship of Robert C. Kiste, with then-CPIS faculty member Brij Lal serving as editor of volumes 1–4.

The journal continues to be edited at the UH Center for Pacific Islands Studies and published by the University of Hawaiʻi Press.

From volume 15 (2003), the journal began featuring the work of a different Pacific Islander artist on the cover and inside each issue.

Back issues are being added to an open-access archive in the University of Hawaii at Mānoa's ScholarSpace institutional repository.