The factors which determine the electrocatalytic activity of metals in the hydrogen reaction are described. The problems are formulated which arise when plotting the volcano relationship between the current density logarithm and the metal-hydrogen bond energy. Experimental data on exchange currents and electron work function W-e were selected. It was shown that the scatter in electrochemical data and the absence of reliable results for metals with low W-e are the deciding factors for plotting the correlation relationships. It was concluded that, to date, one can only suggest that there is a tendency for the exchange-current to increase with the increase in W-e, without giving any quantitative relationships.