Development of electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays a critical role in electrochemical water splitting systems. In this aim, iron based perovskite oxides with composition GdFe1-x Cu-x O-3 (0 <= x <= 0.3) have been investigated. The effect of copper doping, calcination temperature on the OER performance in alkaline media was studied. The incorporation of Cu2+ (0 <= x <= 0.3) decreases the activity of calcined electrodes at 800 degrees C from 6.33 to 2.79 mA cm(-2), while that containing 0.2 mol of copper calcined at 600 degrees C, exhibits the higher activity (9.66 mA cm(-2)) at 0.66 V. The stability study during 8 h indicates that the undoped electrode calcined at 800 degrees C, exhibits relatively a better stability of the OER performance compared to that doped with 20% of copper calcined at 600 degrees C. The achieved results show promising potential for cost-effective hydrogen generation using earth-abundant materials and cheap fabrication processes. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.