Research data · Activity and exploration
Wheel running
From 2021 to 2025, 992 animal research papers mentioned wheel running in their title or abstract, ranking it 17th of the 90 tests we track.
That is 1.1 times the 938 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 wheel running, 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 | 75 |
| 2002 | 70 |
| 2003 | 103 |
| 2004 | 95 |
| 2005 | 114 |
| 2006 | 118 |
| 2007 | 114 |
| 2008 | 156 |
| 2009 | 155 |
| 2010 | 160 |
| 2011 | 165 |
| 2012 | 179 |
| 2013 | 197 |
| 2014 | 197 |
| 2015 | 200 |
| 2016 | 210 |
| 2017 | 202 |
| 2018 | 200 |
| 2019 | 203 |
| 2020 | 210 |
| 2021 | 220 |
| 2022 | 201 |
| 2023 | 163 |
| 2024 | 179 |
| 2025 | 229 |
| 2026 (part year) | 197 |
Papers that mention wheel running fell from 220 in 2021 to 163 in 2023, then rose to 229 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 wheel running in mice and in rats, by year, 2001 to 2025
- Mouse
- Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
| Year | Mouse | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 23 | 40 |
| 2002 | 28 | 27 |
| 2003 | 43 | 45 |
| 2004 | 40 | 43 |
| 2005 | 44 | 57 |
| 2006 | 48 | 56 |
| 2007 | 57 | 44 |
| 2008 | 78 | 63 |
| 2009 | 89 | 57 |
| 2010 | 90 | 52 |
| 2011 | 99 | 60 |
| 2012 | 109 | 65 |
| 2013 | 120 | 72 |
| 2014 | 108 | 81 |
| 2015 | 125 | 69 |
| 2016 | 141 | 65 |
| 2017 | 132 | 67 |
| 2018 | 130 | 67 |
| 2019 | 137 | 62 |
| 2020 | 149 | 57 |
| 2021 | 157 | 64 |
| 2022 | 143 | 48 |
| 2023 | 126 | 37 |
| 2024 | 125 | 46 |
| 2025 | 179 | 49 |
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 992 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 810 of the 992 papers, so each bar is a share of those 810.
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 wheel running and study that disease model, with its share of the 992 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 wheel running
Each bar counts the papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests, with its share of the 992 papers that mention wheel running.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention wheel running and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
A mechanosensitive peri-arteriolar niche for osteogenesis and lymphopoiesis.
Nature, 2021. 251 citations.
Pharmacological but not physiological GDF15 suppresses feeding and the motivation to exercise.
Nat Commun, 2021. 119 citations.
J Neurosci, 2022. 113 citations.
J Neuroinflammation, 2022. 107 citations.
Late-life exercise mitigates skeletal muscle epigenetic aging.
Aging Cell, 2022. 77 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 wheel running only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 31 reviews. For 183 of the 992 papers, PubMed's indexing gave no species, so the species came from PubTator 3 finding one in the title or abstract.
This count includes papers that used a running wheel for exercise, not only as a test.
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 activity and exploration tests
These activity and exploration tests also have a page, with their papers from 2021 to 2025. Each test with 30 or more papers gets one.
How to cite
APA
ConductScience. (2026, November 10). Wheel running in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/running-wheel
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_running_wheel_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Wheel running in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/data/behavioral-tests/running-wheel},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}Apparatus for wheel running
Our store sells one product for wheel running.
Shop the apparatus