In this paper, we show that the leakage current properties of BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films have been greatly improved by Zr-doping. In contrast, the magnetic properties of Zr-doped BFO films are affected as a weak ferromagnetism. Beyond the double-exchange interactions arising from the creation of Fe2+, we propose another simple model considering the replacement of the magnetically active Fe3+, time to time, by a non-active Zr4+, which is expected to induce a local ferromagnetic coupling rather than an antiferromagnetic one. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.