Anodic reaction pathways in proton-conducting solid oxide electrolyzer cells (H + −SOECs) were investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with a cell structure of Sm 0.5 Sr 0.5 CoO 3 (anode) | BaZr 0.4 Ce 0.4 Y 0.2 O 3-δ | Pt (cathode). Densely sintered BaZr 0.4 Ce 0.4 Y 0.2 O 3-δ ceramics (>97% relative density) were fabricated by a reactive sintering process with a 2 mol% Zn(NO 3 ) 2 additive and were applied as the electrolyte. The impedance spectra were measured while the oxygen (p O2 ) and water partial pressures (p H2O ) in the anode side were systematically varied, which revealed that the SOECs have two polarization resistances at the anode side, one proportional to p O2 −1/4 and p H2O 0 and another insensitive to p O2 and p H2O . A comparison between the experimental results and elementary step modeling revealed that the actual anode reactions could be described by the reverse mode H + -SOFC cathode reactions, and, thus, the elementary steps dominating the anodic polarization resistance were assigned.