Hydrogen absorption by Sc has been investigated over wide ranges of temperature (790-1280 K) and pressure (10-150 mbar). The absorbed quantities of H were in agreement with those expected from p-x-T isotherms, available in the literature, only for temperatures higher than 1000 K, where the absorption curves could be fitted to a Johnson-Mehl-Avrami type of relationships. The gas solid reaction was first-order and the reaction-rate-constant k exhibited an Arrhenius type of temperature dependence with an associated activation energy of 2.1 +/- 0.1 eV (202 10 kJ/mol.H(2)). The step controlling the absorption rate turned out not to be H diffusion in the bulk. Namely, the values of the apparent H diffusion coefficient deduced from absorption data were found to be some orders of magnitude smaller than expected from extrapolations of lower temperature anelastic and spin-lattice relaxation data. The absorption rate appears to be governed by H penetration through a sub-surface Sc layer containing a high concentration of interstitial oxygen, originated from the decomposition of surface oxides occurring between 900 K and 1000 K. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.