Research data · Anxiety-like behavior
Novel tank test
From 2021 to 2025, 245 animal research papers mentioned the novel tank test in their title or abstract, ranking it 37th of the 90 tests we track.
That is 5.3 times the 46 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.
Papers by year
Animal research papers that mention the novel tank 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 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2004 | 1 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2009 | 2 |
| 2010 | 3 |
| 2011 | 12 |
| 2012 | 5 |
| 2013 | 12 |
| 2014 | 6 |
| 2015 | 11 |
| 2016 | 24 |
| 2017 | 14 |
| 2018 | 23 |
| 2019 | 44 |
| 2020 | 47 |
| 2021 | 45 |
| 2022 | 48 |
| 2023 | 39 |
| 2024 | 36 |
| 2025 | 77 |
| 2026 (part year) | 68 |
Papers that mention the novel tank test fell from 45 in 2021 to 36 in 2024, then rose to 77 in 2025. Part of this dip may come from PubMed's indexing rather than from fewer studies. When PubMed's indexing names a paper's species, we use it. Otherwise PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, has to find a species in the title or abstract, or the paper is not counted. 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 245 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.
Disease models in papers that mention the novel tank test
Each bar is one disease model, with how many of the 245 papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention the novel tank test use it, and what share that is. The model comes from the paper's MeSH terms, the subject headings the National Library of Medicine adds when it indexes a paper. A paper without MeSH terms gets its model from PubTator 3, NCBI's text-mining service, if PubTator 3 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 novel tank test
Each bar is one test, with how many of the 245 papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention the novel tank test also mention it, and what share that is.
Papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention both tests
To count the papers that mention three or more tests together, start from the novel tank test in the test battery tool.
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention the novel tank test and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
Psychopharmacology (Berl), 2022. 82 citations.
Examining behavioural test sensitivity and locomotor proxies of anxiety-like behaviour in zebrafish.
Sci Rep, 2023. 59 citations.
AlCl3 induced learning and memory deficit in zebrafish.
Neurotoxicology, 2022. 52 citations.
Sci Rep, 2021. 51 citations.
Effects of oxybenzone on zebrafish behavior and cognition.
Sci Total Environ, 2022. 48 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 novel tank test only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 7 reviews. For 49 of the 245 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 anxiety-like behavior tests
These anxiety-like behavior 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). Novel tank test in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/novel-tank-test
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_novel_tank_test_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Novel tank test in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/novel-tank-test},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}