a b s t r a c tWe study the effect of hydrostatic pressure on superconductivity of new BiS 2 based layered REO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 (RE ¼La, Pr, and Nd) compounds through the measurements of dc electrical resistivity. The REO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 (RE ¼La, Pr and Nd) compounds synthesized by solid state reaction route via vacuum encapsulation are crystallized in the tetragonal P4/nmm space group. At ambient pressure the superconducting transition onset temperatures (T c onset ) are 2.7 K, 3.5 K and 4.5 K, which are enhanced substantially under external hydrostatic pressure to 10.5 K, 7.8 K and 7.5 K for LaO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 , PrO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 and NdO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 respectively at 1.68 GPa. The normal state electrical resistivity decreases with applied pressure for REO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 (RE¼ La, Pr and Nd). The electrical resistivity under magnetic field and applied pressure has been measured to estimate upper critical field H c2 (0), the values of which are 15.9 Tesla, 8.8 Tesla and 8.2 Tesla for LaO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 , PrO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 and NdO 0.5 F 0.5 BiS 2 compounds. Substantial enhancement of superconductivity under moderate pressures in studied new BiS 2 based superconductors call for the attention of condensed matter physics community.