Research data ยท Motor function and endurance
Rotarod
From 2021 to 2025, 1,844 animal research papers mentioned the rotarod in their title or abstract, ranking it ninth of the 90 tests we track.
That is 1.4 times the 1,317 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 rotarod, 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 | 80 |
| 2002 | 80 |
| 2003 | 101 |
| 2004 | 105 |
| 2005 | 120 |
| 2006 | 110 |
| 2007 | 134 |
| 2008 | 155 |
| 2009 | 157 |
| 2010 | 196 |
| 2011 | 215 |
| 2012 | 263 |
| 2013 | 270 |
| 2014 | 273 |
| 2015 | 296 |
| 2016 | 305 |
| 2017 | 311 |
| 2018 | 337 |
| 2019 | 330 |
| 2020 | 360 |
| 2021 | 358 |
| 2022 | 352 |
| 2023 | 303 |
| 2024 | 380 |
| 2025 | 451 |
| 2026 (part year) | 429 |
Papers that mention the rotarod fell from 358 in 2021 to 303 in 2023, then rose to 451 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.
Mice led rats every year from 2001 to 2025.
Papers that mention the rotarod in mice and in rats, by year, 2001 to 2025
- Mouse
- Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
| Year | Mouse | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 50 | 41 |
| 2002 | 52 | 37 |
| 2003 | 70 | 46 |
| 2004 | 70 | 48 |
| 2005 | 81 | 51 |
| 2006 | 70 | 47 |
| 2007 | 97 | 45 |
| 2008 | 105 | 55 |
| 2009 | 105 | 64 |
| 2010 | 131 | 77 |
| 2011 | 121 | 106 |
| 2012 | 187 | 89 |
| 2013 | 185 | 94 |
| 2014 | 185 | 100 |
| 2015 | 203 | 104 |
| 2016 | 203 | 123 |
| 2017 | 193 | 128 |
| 2018 | 228 | 129 |
| 2019 | 236 | 107 |
| 2020 | 246 | 128 |
| 2021 | 243 | 128 |
| 2022 | 228 | 128 |
| 2023 | 198 | 111 |
| 2024 | 247 | 136 |
| 2025 | 311 | 154 |
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 1,844 papers from 2021 to 2025. A paper can use more than one species, so the shares can add to more than 100%.
Species
โOther animalsโ 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 1,474 of the 1,844 papers, so each bar is a share of those 1,474.
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 rotarod and study that disease model, with its share of the 1,844 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 rotarod
Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests, with its share of the 1,844 papers that mention the rotarod.
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 rotarod and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
J Neuroinflammation, 2022. 217 citations.
ACS Chem Neurosci, 2021. 156 citations.
Oxid Med Cell Longev, 2022. 136 citations.
TAK1 mediates neuronal pyroptosis in early brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage.
J Neuroinflammation, 2021. 116 citations.
Biochem Pharmacol, 2021. 116 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 rotarod only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 19 reviews. For 371 of the 1,844 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
- 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
- Pole test 161
- 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). Rotarod in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/rotarod
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_rotarod_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Rotarod in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/rotarod},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}Apparatus for the rotarod
Our store sells one product for the rotarod.
Shop the apparatusPapers that name our apparatus
We keep our own list of published papers whose text names our equipment. Those that mention the rotarod in the title or abstract are already in the counts above.
- 18 papers from 2020 to 2026 name our Rotarod Test. See the papers
