Authorship Question

[Merely]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I'm a little confused: on papers I see like the first author name, second author name, third author name, but then in superscript I see like numbers, for example the first name has a 1 by it, the second name has a 1,2 by it then the third, fourth, and fifth names all have 1s by them. What does that mean? It seems very confusing, does this paper have like 5 first authors? Why does one guy have both 1 and 2? Hopefully you guys can provide insight...

 

[Taddy Mason]

So I'm a little confused: on papers I see like the first author name, second author name, third author name, but then in superscript I see like numbers, for example the first name has a 1 by it, the second name has a 1,2 by it then the third, fourth, and fifth names all have 1s by them. What does that mean? It seems very confusing, does this paper have like 5 first authors? Why does one guy have both 1 and 2? Hopefully you guys can provide insight...

Not sure if serious, but look at the bottom of the page, author listing, or end of the article. You'll find the answer to your question...

 

[ProfMD]

The superscripts indicate the author's affiliation. There is usually a legend beneath the author list that will tell you what each number indicates as far as institution.

If there are co-first authors, this is usually indicated by an asterisk or something, with a note at the bottom telling you what this means.

Otherwise, the first author is usually the one who did most of the work, the last authors (senior author) oversaw the project, and everyone in the middle contributed to a greater or lesser degree.