diff --git a/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_firing_rate.py b/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_firing_rate.py
index c89214eab201aaccd8a6e35641db117de711d2be..e258df8f0c0552c8f27b5404abcafa0b4e2f8d4e 100644
--- a/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_firing_rate.py
+++ b/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_firing_rate.py
@@ -97,4 +97,5 @@ def plot_firing_rate_over_areas(M, data_path):
     ax.set_ylabel('Area', size=13)
     ax.set_xlabel('Time (ms)', size=13)
 
-    pl.colorbar(im)
\ No newline at end of file
+    cbar = pl.colorbar(im)
+    cbar.set_label('spikes/s', fontsize=13)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_visualize_time_ave_pop_rates.py b/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_visualize_time_ave_pop_rates.py
index 973855e090c815a8425d6dae9bc86731e01baaee..a5845a7c1b05d1c25a186397050416b56ae991f6 100644
--- a/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_visualize_time_ave_pop_rates.py
+++ b/figures/MAM2EBRAINS/M2E_visualize_time_ave_pop_rates.py
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ def plot_time_averaged_population_rates(M, data_path, area_list=None, **keywords
             if masked_matrix.mask[i, j]:
                 ax.text(j + 0.5, i + 0.5, 'X', va='center', ha='center', color='black', fontsize=23)
 
-    plt.colorbar(im)
+    cbar = plt.colorbar(im)
+    cbar.set_label('spikes/s', fontsize=13)
 
     if 'output' in keywords:
         plt.savefig(os.path.join(M.output_dir, '{}_rates.{}'.format(M.simulation.label,