Research data · Motor function and endurance
Pole test
From 2021 to 2025, 161 animal research papers mentioned the pole test in their title or abstract, ranking it 46th of the 90 tests we track.
That is 2.2 times the 72 papers of 2011 to 2015. Papers that mention any of the 90 tests grew to 1.2 times as many over the same span.
Papers by year
Animal research papers that mention the pole test, by year, 2001 to 2026
The 2026 bar counts papers added to PubMed by November 8, 2026.
- Papers in a full year
- 2026 so far
Show the counts for each year
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 3 |
| 2002 | 3 |
| 2003 | 6 |
| 2004 | 7 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 7 |
| 2009 | 8 |
| 2010 | 12 |
| 2011 | 9 |
| 2012 | 18 |
| 2013 | 13 |
| 2014 | 15 |
| 2015 | 17 |
| 2016 | 15 |
| 2017 | 13 |
| 2018 | 26 |
| 2019 | 24 |
| 2020 | 25 |
| 2021 | 35 |
| 2022 | 31 |
| 2023 | 18 |
| 2024 | 37 |
| 2025 | 40 |
| 2026 (part year) | 40 |
Papers that mention the pole test fell from 35 in 2021 to 18 in 2023, then rose to 40 in 2025. Papers that PubMed indexed under the MeSH heading Animals also fell and rose, from 200,221 in 2021 to 156,447 in 2023 and 235,479 in 2025. We take each paper's species from PubMed's indexing whenever it names one, so part of this dip may come from the indexing rather than from fewer studies.
Papers that mention the pole test in mice and in rats, by year, 2001 to 2025
- Mouse
- Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
| Year | Mouse | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2 | 1 |
| 2002 | 2 | 1 |
| 2003 | 5 | 2 |
| 2004 | 5 | 3 |
| 2005 | 3 | 2 |
| 2006 | 5 | 2 |
| 2007 | 5 | 0 |
| 2008 | 6 | 1 |
| 2009 | 7 | 1 |
| 2010 | 8 | 6 |
| 2011 | 8 | 1 |
| 2012 | 13 | 3 |
| 2013 | 11 | 1 |
| 2014 | 12 | 2 |
| 2015 | 16 | 2 |
| 2016 | 12 | 7 |
| 2017 | 10 | 2 |
| 2018 | 21 | 5 |
| 2019 | 23 | 1 |
| 2020 | 20 | 6 |
| 2021 | 32 | 4 |
| 2022 | 25 | 6 |
| 2023 | 15 | 5 |
| 2024 | 31 | 5 |
| 2025 | 34 | 9 |
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 161 papers from 2021 to 2025. A paper can use more than one species, so the shares can add to more than 100%.
Species
“Other animals” counts papers that use none of the other species in this chart.
Strains and genetic lines
Strain names come from the MeSH terms PubMed adds when it indexes a paper. PubMed has indexed 134 of the 161 papers, so each bar is a share of those 134.
A paper indexed under two of these headings, such as knockout mice and a strain, counts under both.
Disease models these papers study
Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention the pole test and study that disease model, with its share of the 161 papers. The model comes from a paper's MeSH terms. For a paper PubMed has not indexed, it comes from PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, when that service finds the disease in the title or abstract. A paper can count under more than one model.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 by disease model
Tests mentioned alongside the pole test
Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests, with its share of the 161 papers that mention the pole test.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention the pole test and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
Brain Behav Immun, 2021. 227 citations.
Parkin regulates microglial NLRP3 and represses neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease.
Aging Cell, 2023. 106 citations.
Exp Gerontol, 2021. 92 citations.
Mol Neurobiol, 2024. 90 citations.
Neurobiol Dis, 2022. 81 citations.
How we counted
A count is the number of animal research papers whose title or abstract mentions one of the test's search terms. It is not a count of experiments, labs or animals.
A paper that mentions the pole test only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 0 reviews. For 27 of the 161 papers, PubMed's indexing gave no species, so the species came from PubTator 3 finding one in the title or abstract.
The test's search terms are in the test list download. The full method, with each source and its terms of use, is on our main page, Behavioral tests in published research.
More motor function and endurance tests
These motor function and endurance tests also have a page, with their papers from 2021 to 2025. Each test with 30 or more papers gets one.
- Treadmill running 2,091
- Rotarod 1,844
- Grip strength 1,354
- Gait analysis 821
- Beam walking 491
- Negative geotaxis and climbing assays 305
- Catalepsy bar test 244
- Wire hang and inverted grid 206
- Cylinder test 163
- Grid walking (foot fault) 155
- Rotational behavior (rotometer) 110
- Adhesive removal test 107
- Ladder rung walking 104
- Skilled reaching 95
- Corner test 59
How to cite
APA
ConductScience. (2026, November 10). Pole test in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/pole-test
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_pole_test_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Pole test in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/pole-test},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}Apparatus for the pole test
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