In this paper the effect of oxygen on the vanadium homoepitaxial growth process is analyzed by using Auger spectroscopy, electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. As the oxygen induced 1 × 5 surface structure got a lattice spacing 6% different from the pure V lattice, relaxation is observed by electron diffraction during the growth. The average in-plane lattice spacing is thus shown to be proportional to the oxygen surface concentration. The surface lattice relaxation is observed to exponentially vary with the number of deposited atomic planes. A kinetic model is proposed and allows us to explain these observations. Furthermore, it helps us to distinguish two regimes depending on growth temperature. At high temperature, the oxygen surface concentration during growth is due to oxygen upward diffusion from the underneath V layer. For lower temperature however, this upward diffusion is not efficient and another source of oxygen contamination is evidenced. When the oxygen surface concentration is sufficient, a spectacular self-organization is observed at the surface by surface microscopy. Ribbons shape islands are observed and are tentatively explained as a consequence of oxygen surface concentration and stress induced by the surface reconstruction. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.