High peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is one of the major drawbacks in orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. In this paper, we present two new Zadoff-Chu matrix transform (ZCMT) precoding-based OFDMA uplink systems, ZCMT precoding-based distributed OFDMA uplink system and ZCMT precoding-based localized OFDMA uplink system with reduced PAPR. The proposed systems are based on precoding the constellation symbols with the ZCMT precoder before subcarrier mapping to keep the PAPR low. The PAPR of the proposed systems is analyzed with root-raised-cosine pulse shaping to keep out of band radiation low and to meet the transmission spectrum mask requirement. Simulation results show that the proposed systems have better PAPR than the Walsh-Hadamard transform (WHT)precoded OFDMA uplink systems and the conventional OFDMA uplink systems. © 2012 King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.