Determination of the star formation rate can be done using mid-IR photometry or Balmer line luminosity after a proper correction for extinction effects. Both methods show convergent results while those based on UV or on [OII]3727 luminosities underestimate the SFR by factors ranging from 5 to 40 for starbursts and for luminous IR galaxies, respectively. Most of the evolution of the cosmic star formation density is related to the evolution of luminous compact galaxies and to luminous IR galaxies. Because they were metal deficient and were forming stars at very high rates (40 to 100 solar mass per year), it is probable that these (massive) galaxies were actively forming the bulk of their stellar/metal content at z < 1.

6 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the proceedings of the Venice conference "Multiwavelength Mapping of Galaxy Formation and Evolution", October 13-16, 2003