Abstract: Various types of energy conversion and storage devices have been developed in recent years to tackle with the problems of the over-consumption of fossil fuels and the environmental pollution they cause. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the key half-cell reaction of many energy conversion and storage devices. The influences of the heteroatom doping of metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts with N, P, S or B and co-doping with N/P or N/S on their performance as OER electrocatalysts are reviewed. Doping methods to prepare metal-free carbon-based electrocatalysts are summarized, and problems that need to be solved are discussed and challenges for future research are proposed.