Several useful animal models for parkinsonism have been developed so far. Haloperidol‐induced catalepsy is often used as a rodent model for the study of motor impairments observed in Parkinson's disease and related disorders and for the screening of potential antiparkinsonian compounds. The objective of this systematic review is to identify publications that used the haloperidol‐induced catalepsy model for parkinsonism and to explore the methodological characteristics and the main questions addressed in these studies. A careful systematic search of the literature was carried out by accessing articles in three different databases: Web of Science, PubMed and SCOPUS. The selection and inclusion of studies were performed based on the abstract and, subsequently, on full‐text analysis. Data extraction included the objective of the study, study design and outcome of interest. Two hundred and fifty‐five articles were included in the review. Publication years ranged from 1981 to 2020. Most studies used the model to explore the effects of potential treatments for parkinsonism. Although the methodological characteristics used are quite varied, most studies used Wistar rats as experimental subjects. The most frequent dose of haloperidol used was 1.0 mg/kg, and the horizontal bar test was the most used to assess catalepsy. The data presented here provide a framework for an evidence‐based approach to the design of preclinical research on parkinsonism using the haloperidol‐induced catalepsy model. This model has been used routinely and successfully and is likely to continue to play a critical role in the ongoing search for the next generation of therapeutic interventions for parkinsonism.

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