Can you have multiple first authors?
Shared co-first authorship is defined as two or more authors who have worked together on a publication and contributed equally
[8]. This equal contribution is often indicated in the fine print of a published paper or in an investigator’s curriculum vitae [9].
Only one of the authors will appear as first author, in any publication. Every other entry is a secondary entry. However,
corresponding authors could be as many as three depending on the multi-disciplinary nature of the article
.
Joint first authorship
Joint first authors can be indicated
by the inclusion of the statement ‘X and X contributed equally to this paper’ in the contributorship statement
.
Since only
1 author
can be listed first on a publication, the chosen individual among a list of “equally contributing authors” is likely to garner a greater share of citation credit and recognition from readers by virtue of having their name first.
Dual first authorship
If requested,
we can provide dual-first authorship if two authors have contributed equally to a paper
. In that case a footnote will be added to the author names and an explanation will be given.
Shared co-first authorship is defined as two or more authors who have worked together on a publication and contributed equally
[8]. This equal contribution is often indicated in the fine print of a published paper or in an investigator’s curriculum vitae [9].
The first author should be that person who contributed most to the work
, including writing of the manuscript. The sequence of authors should be determined by the relative overall contributions to the manuscript. It is common practice to have the senior author appear last, sometimes regardless of his or her contribution …
Typically in my field,
the first author is the one who makes the most significant contributions to the research work
, such as acquiring and analyzing the results, or to writing the manuscript. The last author is the lead PI, who has supervised, financed, or otherwise been the main person responsible for the project.
The corresponding author can be the second author or the third author or even the last author
. There are many replies. However, before starting any research work, the authors order question must be addressed.
Have another one, even the second authorship, is definitely better than nothing. Not to mention your first authorship paper is not very good by your own evaluation. Show activity on this post. In the end,
each paper counts
.
However, the author who guides all authors in planning a research work and who may provide his/ her lab, lab facilities and other requirements is the Corresponding author.
Corresponding author is the most important author in a research article.
Do you think A would be entitled to feel some kind of injustice at not having his name listed in alphabetical order? Is there a consensus that co-first authors should be in alphabetical order and is the editor likely to point this out?
No, “A” has no right to require alphabetical ordering.
In academic publishing, the lead author or first author is
the first named author of a publication such as a research article or audit
. Academic authorship standards vary widely across disciplines.
The first author is usually
the person who has made the most significant intellectual contribution to the work
, in terms designing the study, acquiring and analyzing data from experiments, and writing the manuscript.
Originally Answered: What does a Second author mean for a researcher? Usually the first author is the author that did the majority of the work (in terms of data contributions – they are also usually the person who wrote the paper, at least where I work), the second author contributed the second most, etc.
There are some institutes also where corresponding author becomes the first author also.
The person doing the work or the actual researcher/ Student becomes the second author
or even a co-author also.
For example,
PloS One journals have the logo with the word “Co” written on it that is added after the name of each of the co-first authors
. If you click on the name of each co-author, you get a full explanation that says both authors contributed equally to the work.
Yes, it is possible for a Ph. D. student to be the corresponding author of a paper, provided they were the one who designed the skeleton of the project/study
. This is because during correspondence, it is important for the corresponding author to know every single detail of the study.
Traditionally,
the first author
contributes most and also receives most of the credit, whereas the position of subsequent authors is usually decided by contribution, alphabetical order, or reverse seniority.
Criteria for first authorship may vary across disciplines (see Dance 2012), but for most fields, the following criteria suggest you being the first author on a journal paper if:
you designed the research work
.
you contributed most to the work
.
you wrote large parts of the paper
.
Is it possible to write both of them in the last place as co-last authors? No. As expected, an author list is not a tree or a weighted graph, but a simple flat (one-dimensional) list.
There is exactly one last author.
First and last positions have traditionally been top-ranked, with a margin to the rest (cf. Walker et al., 2010). It follows from the above ranking that the second position is also important.
Second-to-last, however, is not
.
Enheduanna
has been celebrated as the earliest known named author in world history, as a number of works in Sumerian literature, such as the Exaltation of Inanna feature her as the first person narrator, and other works, such as the Sumerian Temple Hymns may identify her as their author.
While there are relatively clear guidelines and practices for designating first and last authors,
there’s no overriding convention for the middle authors
. The list can be decided by negotiation, so sharpen those persuasive argument skills!
Although you are the first author,
ideally you should not write to the editor if you are not the corresponding author
. Since the editor is already in communication with the corresponding author, your writing to him/her may just lead to confusion.
Is co First the same as first?
“Co-first” is when two or more individuals are noted as providing the same or equal first-author-level contribution to a published work
.
Short Answer: You should follow the standard citation style. E.g.,
“Anderson et al”
. As far as I’m aware, there is nothing in APA style that speaks to an exception for the situation where the authors of a paper contribute equally or that set out multiple “first authors”.
After the first author, the authors are usually listed according to their contribution to the work, from the most to the least
. If more than one author contributed equally, you can ask the journal editor to note this in the publication.
Barriers (Real or Perceived) to Undergraduate First Authorship. Because it is rare to see undergraduate first authors, many faculty are likely unaware that
at least some undergraduates can—with proper training, encouragement, and careful mentoring—be capable of serving as first authors on papers in refereed journals
.
If two authors equally contributed, it needs to be negotiated who goes first
. Normally they put a ‘*’ or another sign and in the footnote that ‘these authors contributed equally to the study’.
1st Author: Person who did most of the work, like write the manuscript, and do most if not all of the experiment. 2nd Author: Person who helped out the most, and/or person who mentored the 1st author (e.g.: if 1st author was grad student) the most.
Do you think A would be entitled to feel some kind of injustice at not having his name listed in alphabetical order? Is there a consensus that co-first authors should be in alphabetical order and is the editor likely to point this out?
No, “A” has no right to require alphabetical ordering.
