It is highly urgent but challenging to develop the alternative oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts to the traditional noble-metals (such as Pt). In this study, a facile and cost-efficient route is designed to construct nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur tri-doped mesoporous carbon (NPSpC) by direct pyrolysis of ZIF-8 after pretreatment with sodium phytate solution and dodecyl mercaptan. The resultant NPSpC exhibits a large specific surface area (1641 m(2)/g) and excellent catalytic activity toward ORR. The values for its onset potential (0.923 V vs RHE), half wave potential (0.821 V vs RHE) and limiting diffusion current density (4.89 mA/cm(2)) in 0.1 M KOH are close to those of commercial Pt/C (0.945 V, 0.839 V and 5.01 mA/cm(2), respectively). It also displays the superior methanol tolerance and long-time stability to Pt/C in alkaline medium. Additionally, NPSpC demonstrates the comparable ORR performance to and much better stability than the commercial Pt/C in acidic and neutral solutions. The desirable ORR performance is originated from the synergistic effects including the tri-doping of N, P and S heteroatoms, the large active surface area, the more exposed catalytic sites, well mesoporous nanostructure for sufficient accessibility of the reactants and rapid mass transfer. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.