ABSTRACTCooking-generated particles represent one major indoor particulate pollutant that significantly affect indoor air quality as well as pose a risk to human health. Prediction of the spatial-temporal distribution of fume particles and individual inhalation exposure is highly dependent upon the source characteristics. This study aims to determine the emission rate of cooking-generated particles in the range from 0.1 to 10 μm, because this size is of most concern when considering indoor particle dynamics. The mass concentration and volume-based size distribution of particles in the range from 0.1 to 10 μm are measured under controlled conditions in a laboratory kitchen. Based on a mass balance model, the total emission rates of PM2.5 and PM10 are determined using the concentration decay rate derived from the measured concentration plus its changing curve with time. The size-dependent emission rate is further obtained by multiplying the total emission rate by the particle volume distribution. It is found that source strengths are highly sensitive to the oil type, whilst both the volume-distribution patterns and decay rate values exhibit less difference among the six types of vegetable oil examined in this work. The relative variance of source rate determined at time spans from 15 min to 2 h is less than 5.5%, and thus a short measuring period of 15 min is sufficient to derive a reliable emission rate. The results also show that the volume frequency of particles in the size range from 1.0 to 4.0 μm accounts for nearly 100% of the mass of PM10 in the oil-heating experiments. The size range and the associated size-based emission rates derived in this study can be applied as the source characteristics for further studies of indoor particle dynamics.