Series of ohmically heated deuterium and hydrogen discharges in ASDEX, with scans of plasma current and density, and neutral-beam-heated discharges were used to investigate the particle transport by means of computer simulations. It was found that the anomalously high inward drift velocity can be well described by the thermoelectric-type expression vin(r) = 0.5 D(r) Te(r)−1 ∂Te/∂r, where D is the anomalous diffusion coefficient. This relation is similar to the classical result derived from the thermal friction force. The parameter dependences of the inward drift velocity are determined from the scans and explained by the thermoelectric inward flux. An empirical scaling law for the electron heat diffusivity in ohmically heated plasmas is presented.