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Member 76493 · 04-01-2006, 04:55 PM

First author = did most of the work, usually the one who wrote the paper
Last author = usually the PI whose grant paid for the work
Everyone in-between = other people who worked on the paper, often in descending order of contribution

Sometimes the first couple of authors will have a star by their names with a footnote that says "these authors contributed equally to this work." In those cases, it's advantageous to have a last name that starts with a low letter of the alphabet, because most people don't notice the footnote, and it doesn't show up in the bibliographic listing of the article.

04-01-2006, 04:55 PM	#3
Member 76493 Senior Member Status: Resident Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: The Metroplex Posts: 977	First author = did most of the work, usually the one who wrote the paper Last author = usually the PI whose grant paid for the work Everyone in-between = other people who worked on the paper, often in descending order of contribution Sometimes the first couple of authors will have a star by their names with a footnote that says "these authors contributed equally to this work." In those cases, it's advantageous to have a last name that starts with a low letter of the alphabet, because most people don't notice the footnote, and it doesn't show up in the bibliographic listing of the article. __________________ Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.