names on publications

[huknows00]

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With everyone talking about first author, second author and such. I am a bit confused with the terminology. From what I understand, first author is the person who actually wrote the manuscript? and second authors are everyone else on the list that helped out? Or does it go by order from left to right, so you have third and fourth author and so on?

Also, is publishing abstracts good for md/phd too? if so, how much are they weighed against a paper?

 

[Gfunk6]

The terminology goes like this:

1st author = The person whose work contributed most to the data presented in the paper

2nd author to xth author = People whose work contributed to the data, analysis, or writing of the paper, generally in order of decreasing significance

Final author (or "senior" author) = Person whose lab the work was accomplished in (e.g. the Principal Investigator). Their grants typically fund the work. Also known as the "corresponding" author because if you have any questions about the article, you ask him.

These are not set in stone, but are valid for most published articles.

As to who actually writes the paper, it is usually the first or last author.

Re: Abstracts, they are good to have but are obviously not as weighed as much as a peer-reviewed first-author publication.

 

[randallB]

What about publications where the first three authors have "equal contribution to this work" asterisks by their names? I'm listed third on the author list, but contributed a significant portion of the data and was the one who helped write the manuscript. Does this count as first author due to the asterisk? I also have two abstracts where I'm listed second, once after the PI and once after the primary person. Any publication helps I suppose...

 

[utcrew]

What about publications where the first three authors have "equal contribution to this work" asterisks by their names? I'm listed third on the author list, but contributed a significant portion of the data and was the one who helped write the manuscript. Does this count as first author due to the asterisk? I also have two abstracts where I'm listed second, once after the PI and once after the primary person. Any publication helps I suppose...

"Equal contribution to this work" means you're joint first author with the other two people. Most people think of this as meaning that the work by those three people could be separated into three separate papers, although there are cases where this isnt so. Multiple first authors is often used to tell a "complete story" of the thing of interest. For example, one person focused on the cell biology aspect, while the other first author looked at the biophysical aspect, and these aspects were blended together to talk about the research project as a whole.

 

[randallB]

Thanks much for the clarification; it was what I had predicted the asterisk meant, but, as with a number of things about science, it's never good to trust an assumption. I do, however, wish that the science had been split between the three people. Basically, I worked on the third portion of the work and was the only one to help write the paper since everyone else had already left my school. Either way, it was a great experience, so I shouldn't complain!