Research data · Disease model
Depression
From 2021 to 2025, 2,827 animal research papers on depression mentioned at least one behavioral test, most often the forced swim test.
That is 1.5 times the 1,829 papers of 2011 to 2015. Between the same two periods, all the animal research papers that mention any of the 90 tests we count grew more slowly, to 1.2 times as many.
The tests these papers mention
The sucrose preference test appears in 39% of the papers on depression and in 4.7% of all 32,277 papers that mention a test. That makes it 8.3 times as common in this research. Each bar is one test, with how many of the 2,827 papers from 2021 to 2025 on depression mention it, and what share that is. A paper that mentions two tests counts under both.
The 15 tests these papers mention most
All 73 tests these papers mention
| Test | Papers | Share of the 2,827 papers on depression | Share of all 32,277 papers that mention a test |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forced swim test | 1,822 | 64% | 9% |
| Sucrose preference test | 1,102 | 39% | 5% |
| Tail suspension test | 983 | 35% | 4% |
| Open field | 952 | 34% | 12% |
| Elevated plus maze | 599 | 21% | 9% |
| Morris water maze | 181 | 6% | 17% |
| Novelty-suppressed feeding | 146 | 5% | 1% |
| Novel object recognition | 134 | 5% | 9% |
| Light-dark box | 100 | 4% | 2% |
| Y-maze | 86 | 3% | 6% |
| Splash test | 78 | 3% | under 1% |
| Social interaction test | 72 | 3% | 1% |
| Marble burying | 53 | 2% | 1% |
| Learned helplessness | 49 | 2% | under 1% |
| Fear conditioning | 45 | 2% | 6% |
| Rotarod | 44 | 2% | 6% |
| Passive avoidance | 43 | 2% | 4% |
| Treadmill running | 42 | 1% | 6% |
| Von Frey test | 41 | 1% | 4% |
| Wheel running | 39 | 1% | 3% |
| Hole-board | 29 | 1% | 1% |
| Elevated zero maze | 28 | 1% | under 1% |
| Three-chamber sociability test | 28 | 1% | 1% |
| Conditioned place preference | 26 | 1% | 3% |
| Hot plate | 25 | 1% | 2% |
| Barnes maze | 23 | 1% | 2% |
| Self-administration | 19 | 1% | 4% |
| Self-grooming | 19 | 1% | 1% |
| Prepulse inhibition and acoustic startle | 18 | 1% | 2% |
| T-maze | 17 | 1% | 1% |
| Nest building | 14 | under 1% | 1% |
| Operant conditioning | 13 | under 1% | 3% |
| Resident-intruder test | 13 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Object location test | 13 | under 1% | 1% |
| Social approach and avoidance | 12 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Grip strength | 12 | under 1% | 4% |
| Tail flick | 12 | under 1% | 2% |
| Catalepsy bar test | 10 | under 1% | 1% |
| Predator odor exposure | 9 | under 1% | 1% |
| Formalin test | 9 | under 1% | 2% |
| Novel tank test | 9 | under 1% | 1% |
| Radial arm maze | 6 | under 1% | 1% |
| Active avoidance (shuttle box) | 6 | under 1% | 1% |
| Hargreaves plantar test | 6 | under 1% | 1% |
| Beam walking | 5 | under 1% | 2% |
| Pole test | 5 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Acetone test | 5 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Writhing test | 5 | under 1% | 2% |
| Touchscreen operant tasks | 4 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Gait analysis | 4 | under 1% | 3% |
| Attentional set shifting | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Adhesive removal test | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Five-choice serial reaction time task | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Negative geotaxis and climbing assays | 3 | under 1% | 1% |
| Tube test for social dominance | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Skilled reaching | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Cold plate | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Olfactory tests | 3 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Cylinder test | 2 | under 1% | 1% |
| Elevated T-maze | 2 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Paw pressure test | 2 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Wire hang and inverted grid | 2 | under 1% | 1% |
| Plus maze for place and response learning | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Puzzle box | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Observational fear | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Burrowing | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Active place avoidance | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Thermal gradient and temperature preference | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Step-down avoidance | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Vogel conflict test | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Rotational behavior (rotometer) | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Real-time place preference | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
| Runway | 1 | under 1% | under 1% |
Papers by year
Animal research papers on depression that mention a behavioral 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 | 50 |
| 2002 | 70 |
| 2003 | 66 |
| 2004 | 75 |
| 2005 | 94 |
| 2006 | 104 |
| 2007 | 147 |
| 2008 | 210 |
| 2009 | 200 |
| 2010 | 239 |
| 2011 | 294 |
| 2012 | 310 |
| 2013 | 354 |
| 2014 | 428 |
| 2015 | 443 |
| 2016 | 506 |
| 2017 | 547 |
| 2018 | 561 |
| 2019 | 606 |
| 2020 | 553 |
| 2021 | 604 |
| 2022 | 532 |
| 2023 | 452 |
| 2024 | 565 |
| 2025 | 674 |
| 2026 (part year) | 581 |
Papers on depression that mention a test fell from 604 in 2021 to 452 in 2023, then rose to 674 in 2025. Part of this dip may come from PubMed's indexing rather than from fewer studies. Where PubMed has indexed a paper, we take its disease models from that indexing. Otherwise PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, has to find the disease in the title or abstract, or the paper is not counted here. Papers that PubMed indexed under the subject heading Animals also fell and rose, from 200,221 in 2021 to 156,447 in 2023 and 235,479 in 2025.
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 2,827 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 species this chart names.
Which papers count
A paper counts here when it is animal research, mentions at least one of the 90 tests and studies depression.
MeSH terms are the subject headings the National Library of Medicine adds when it indexes a paper. A paper counts under depression when its MeSH terms include one of these.
- Depression
- Depression, Postpartum
- Depressive Disorder
- Depressive Disorder, Major
- Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant
For a paper without MeSH terms, PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, supplies the disease model when it finds the disease in the title or abstract. A paper can count under more than one disease model.
Our main page, Behavioral tests in published research, has the full method and each source's terms of use. Its downloads list each paper and its disease models.
More disease models
These disease models also have a page, with their papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention a test. Each disease model with 100 or more such papers gets one.
- Cognitive impairment and dementia 4,961 papers
- Anxiety 3,041 papers
- Pain conditions 2,617 papers
- Alzheimer disease 2,445 papers
- Substance use disorders 1,599 papers
- Psychological stress 1,484 papers
- Stroke and brain ischemia 1,278 papers
- Parkinson disease 918 papers
- Brain injury 841 papers
- Diabetes 795 papers
- Obesity and high-fat diet 761 papers
- Aging 700 papers
- Epilepsy and seizures 572 papers
- Autism spectrum disorder 484 papers
- Schizophrenia and psychosis 401 papers
- Sleep loss and sleep disorders 400 papers
- Post-traumatic stress 392 papers
- Spinal cord injury 382 papers
- Multiple sclerosis and demyelination 223 papers
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 108 papers
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder 107 papers
How to cite
APA
ConductScience. (2026, November 10). Behavioral tests in depression research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/models/depression
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_depression_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Behavioral tests in depression research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/models/depression},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}Shop apparatus by test
Our store sells apparatus for nine of the 10 tests these papers mention most, all but novelty-suppressed feeding.
- Forced swim test
- Sucrose preference test
- Tail suspension test
- Open field
- Elevated plus maze
- Morris water maze
- Novel object recognition
- Light-dark box
- Y-maze
