Degradation of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) upon ultraviolet (UV) irradiation has been studied by measuring luminance-voltage (L-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the devices in a nitrogen-filled glove-box. Photo-oxidation or reaction is no longer the main origin of the degradation for the devices protected by nitrogen. Conventional double-layer OLEDs with tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq(3)) as the electron transport material and single-layer devices containing Alq(3) as the only organic material exhibit different degradation behaviors: both L-V and I-V characteristics degrade severely for the irradiated double-layer devices, whereas whether I-V degrades or not in a single-layer device is closely related to the species of the charge carriers flowing in the device. By comparing electroluminescent and photoluminescent degradation behaviors of the single-Alq(3)-layer devices, we conclude that lowered fluorescent quantum efficiency and hole current after UV irradiation are two origins of the degraded characteristics of the devices isolated from the moist environment. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.