The unprecedented growth in the number of mobile data and connected machines ever-fast approaches limits of fourth generation technologies to address this enormous data demand. Therefore, the development of the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication technologies is a priority issue currently. The evolution towards 5G wireless communications will be a cornerstone for realizing the future human-centric and connected machine-centric networks, which achieve near-instantaneous, zero distance connectivity for people and connected machines. On the other hand, wireless networks have been widely used in civilian and military applications and become an indispensable part of our daily life. People rely heavily on wireless networks for transmission of important/private information, such as credit card information, energy pricing, e-health data, command, and control messages. Therefore, security is a critical issue for future 5G wireless networks. Physical layer security techniques can be used to either perform secure data transmission directly or generate the distribution of cryptography keys for conventional cryptography techniques in the 5G networks. With careful management and implementation, physical layer security can be used as an additional level of protection on top of the existing security schemes. As such, they will formulate a well-integrated security solution together that efficiently safeguards the confidential and privacy communication data in 5G wireless networks. The main goal of this IEEE JSAC Special Issue on “Physical Layer Security for 5G Wireless Networks” is to bring together leading researchers in both academia and industry from diversified backgrounds to advance the theory and practice of physical layer security for 5G wireless networks.