A review of recent literature on proton exchange membrane fuel cell modeling is presented. Fuel cell models can be categorized as analytical, semi-empirical or mechanistic. Mechanistic models can be further subcategorized based on the solution strategy, single-domain or multi-domain. The multi-domain approach develops and solves separate equations in each region of the fuel cell. The single-domain approach consists of equations governing the entire domain of interest, with source and sink terms accounting for species consumption and generation within the cell. The merits and demerits of each method are discussed. For a one-dimensional case study, both methods were compared quantitatively and results show that both models accurately predict the polarization effects and water management requirements. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.