So typically when people do case reports/abstracts how does it work when collaborating with a resident and the order of authors? Do you typically split the work up 50/50? In cases where the med student writes the entire case report and the resident maybe gives some feedback but doesn't really do anything, i'm assuming you still include their name but the med student gets first author??
Case reports with residents? Author order and work load
- Thread starter nope80
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Generally speaking for most publications, whoever writes the paper is first author. The resident probably worked up the case with you and gave feedback on the writing and some contribution to it, so they should be a co-author. The attending physician on the case will likely be the last author.
Of course, what will actually happen will depend on the people you are working with.
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Agreed. All too often the med student will do more than his fair share of the work/writing, and still end up 2nd author. Be prepared for this eventuality. If the resident didn't "need" first authorship papers, he wouldn't be working on it at all. So you can bet that is what he's expecting out of this.
yeah thats interesting. Basically i've done all the work and was wondering how that would pan out. We'll see. I mean I'm primarily working with the attending so if the attending knows I'm doing all the work, I'm sure I would end up being first author? Doesn't seem fair any other way...And at the end of the day, the person that actually has the paper and submits is the one that has control over the order, right? well I doubt a resident that has done nothing is going to demand being first author..?
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That is exactly what happened to me. I saw the case and asked the attending if i could write it up. None of the residents or students who worked on the case itself got their names on the report. Just me (1st) and the attending. I wasnt even a student in that med school. I just happened to be working in the lab that processed the samples and called the attending when the culture came back positive for a fungus thats never seen in that part of the country.
well in my case i did all the work..we have yet to submit and I guess i'm putting the name of the resident down because he suggested we do a write up in the first place and i've kept him in the loop so far despite the fact that he hasn't done any work. I think he was thinking he would make himself first author but honestly that would be so ridiculously unfair.
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Authorship order is really up to the senior and/or corresponding author. He/she knows what the plan is but it can always change. Just ask.
My approach was always to say something like: heres the draft. I made myself first author. Is that ok? That way they have to actively change it. If you make yourself second author, they might not bother to move you up.
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Why don't you ask the attending that you've been working with? He/She will be the most senior person on the team and probably knows more about how to deal with situation like this. I don't see how your resident can expect to be first author if he didn't put any work into the project or the paper.
