Research data · Social behavior
Social approach and avoidance
From 2021 to 2025, 54 animal research papers mentioned social approach and avoidance in their title or abstract, ranking it 67th of the 90 tests we track.
That is 2.5 times the 22 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 social approach and avoidance, 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 | 2 |
| 2004 | 1 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2006 | 1 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2009 | 1 |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2013 | 4 |
| 2014 | 5 |
| 2015 | 7 |
| 2016 | 12 |
| 2017 | 8 |
| 2018 | 7 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 14 |
| 2022 | 8 |
| 2023 | 9 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| 2025 | 14 |
| 2026 (part year) | 10 |
Papers that mention social approach and avoidance fell from 14 in 2021 to 8 in 2022, then rose to 14 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.
Papers that mention social approach and avoidance, by species, 2001 to 2025
- Mouse
- Rat
Show the counts for each year and species
| Year | Mouse | Rat |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 | 1 |
| 2004 | 1 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 | 1 |
| 2007 | 0 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 | 1 |
| 2010 | 1 | 1 |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | 3 | 4 |
| 2013 | 4 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2 | 2 |
| 2015 | 5 | 0 |
| 2016 | 10 | 3 |
| 2017 | 4 | 3 |
| 2018 | 6 | 1 |
| 2019 | 8 | 2 |
| 2020 | 12 | 1 |
| 2021 | 10 | 2 |
| 2022 | 6 | 2 |
| 2023 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 4 |
Which species the papers used
Each bar is a share of the 54 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.
Strains and genetic lines
Strain names come from the MeSH terms PubMed adds when it indexes a paper. PubMed has indexed 46 of the 54 papers, so each bar is a share of those 46.
A paper indexed under two of these headings, such as knockout mice and a strain, counts under both.
Disease models in papers that mention social approach and avoidance
Each bar is one disease model, with how many of the 54 papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention social approach and avoidance 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 social approach and avoidance
Each bar is one test, with how many of the 54 papers from 2021 to 2025 that mention social approach and avoidance 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 social approach and avoidance in the test battery tool.
The most cited papers from 2021 to 2025
These papers from 2021 to 2025 mention social approach and avoidance and have the most citations, as counted by NIH's iCite on November 5, 2026.
Circulating myeloid-derived MMP8 in stress susceptibility and depression.
Nature, 2024. 151 citations.
Nat Commun, 2023. 59 citations.
Molecular and neural basis of pleasant touch sensation.
Science, 2022. 49 citations.
Stress, 2021. 46 citations.
Prefrontal-amygdalar oscillations related to social behavior in mice.
Elife, 2022. 37 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 social approach and avoidance only in its methods is missed, so the count runs low. The count includes 2 reviews. For 8 of the 54 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 social behavior tests
These social 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). Social approach and avoidance in published research [Data set]. https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/social-approach-avoidance
BibTeX
@misc{conductscience_social_approach_avoidance_2026,
author = {{ConductScience}},
title = {Social approach and avoidance in published research},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://conductscience.com/resources/data/behavioral-tests/social-approach-avoidance},
note = {Data set, released November 10, 2026},
}Apparatus for social approach and avoidance
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