  The determination of chemical abundances in star-forming galaxies and the
study of their evolution on cosmological timescales are powerful tools for
understanding galaxy formation and evolution. This contribution presents the
latest results in this domain. We show that detailed studies of chemical
abundances in UV-selected, HII and starburst nucleus galaxies, together with
the development of new chemical evolution models, put strong constraints on the
evolutionary stage of these objects in terms of star formation history.
Finally, we summarize our current knowledge on the chemical properties of
intermediate- and high-redshift galaxies. Although the samples are still too
small for statistical studies, these results give insight into the nature and
evolution of distant star-forming objects and their link with present-day
galaxies.
