The contact resistance of strontium-doped lanthanum manganite (LSM) contact pairs is investigated by polarisation analysis at different temperatures and atmospheres. The ceramic contacts have a high contact resistance, and strongly nonlinear current-voltage behaviour is observed at low temperatures. The nonlinear behaviour is ascribed to the presence of energy barriers at the contact interface. Generally, point contacts showed a more linear behaviour than plane contact interfaces. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.