The Order of the Authors Names - (Nov/06/2007 )
Hi everyone,
I have a question about the order of the authors in a paper. I know that the first and last names are the most important ones but what about those in the middle? If you are the second author, does it necessarily mean that you had more contribution to the paper than the third and fourth author?
yes
not always. sometimes the person who makes the decision grants favors.
You are right mdfenko!
I have a question about the order of the authors in a paper. I know that the first and last names are the most important ones but what about those in the middle? If you are the second author, does it necessarily mean that you had more contribution to the paper than the third and fourth author?
there is the possibility to be the second author in the row but with the same contribution as the first author; if this is indicated (f.i. "equal contribution"), both are considered as first author
I have a question about the order of the authors in a paper. I know that the first and last names are the most important ones but what about those in the middle? If you are the second author, does it necessarily mean that you had more contribution to the paper than the third and fourth author?
The normal convention is:
Lead author writes the paper
Last author is the lab/department/Institute head
The middle authors contribute in some way to the paper, maybe as collaborators
What you miss are the thanks for TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. These are the guys who normal translate fanciful ideals by post doc's into practical reality. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS thank the technicians........they should really be as authors but there is still lots of snobbery in academy.
Been there, done it worn the tee-shirt.
Rhombus
I agree, technicians are often ignored when writing the paper. However I must say I know one group who has a paper with the technician as the first author, they told me she deserved it because there was A LOT of technical work so they decide to reward all what she had done.
In our group the technicians are mostly always co-authors, not the first autors, but depending on the amount of time spent on the project, on second or third position. I think, this is only fair, as they really do a lot and sometimes they have own projects and do the same work as PhD or postdocs, so why not put them in the author list?
Sometimes, the technician become the first author because he/she wishes to do PhD in the same lab... and the paper may assist he/she to get a scholarship.
I'm a research assistant in my lab (I'm not sure if thats what you guys mean by technician??) and when we publish papers, and I have done some of the work that contributed, my name is on the paper (usually 2nd or 3rd author, depending on how many ppl contributed and how much of the work I did).
My supervisor values the ideas, opinions and work of all the members of the lab equally (no matter if they are a student, RA, post-doc or professor). It is nice working in an environment where academic snobbery is not acceptable 