The effect of the surface topography of 446M ferritic stainless steel as a bipolar plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is evaluated by interfacial contact resistance (ICR) measurement and finite element method (FEM) simulation. When the surface of stainless steel is in contact with the carbon paper under load, the surface roughness of stainless steel can affect the degree of deformation of the carbon fiber. Moreover, the higher deformation of carbon fiber under load in the rougher stainless steel could lead to larger real contact area between stainless steel and carbon fiber, and consequently the rough one has a lower ICR value than the fine one. The results suggest that the topography of stainless steel as a bipolar plate significantly affects the ICR. Furthermore, it was found that topography of bipolar plate is one of the key factors to decrease ICR. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.