Optics of co-first author listed second in author list

[and 99 others]

When residency programs are reviewing publications and come across a paper with two first authors, is this co-first authorship readily obvious? Alphabetically, if one's name comes later and they are thus listed second in the list, will they be perceived as second author even though they are a co-first author? I imagine some of that nuance can be lost if someone is reviewing the application quickly, or is this something that is specifically looked out for? Thanks!

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[GoSpursGo]

Yes, optically the significance of co-first authorship can be lost, but it's not a huge deal. You should mark both names with an asterisk and at the end of citation notate "*=co-first author"

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Multiple first-author attribution has been a common practice in academic publishing for over a dozen years. You are good.

 

[and 99 others]

Yes, optically the significance of co-first authorship can be lost, but it's not a huge deal. You should mark both names with an asterisk and at the end of citation notate "*=co-first author"

In this case, is it a bad idea to put my own name first on my CV/ERAS just to ensure that it's clear that I am first author, in addition to the asterisk convention? Or would keeping the alphabetical order and just adding the asterisks be enough to overcome this issue?

 

[GoSpursGo]

In this case, is it a bad idea to put my own name first on my CV/ERAS just to ensure that it's clear that I am first author, in addition to the asterisk convention? Or would keeping the alphabetical order and just adding the asterisks be enough to overcome this issue?

You can’t alter the actual citation. The order is the order

 

[aldol16]

At the end of the day, it's not going to matter. First versus second isn't something that people will split hairs about when reviewing your application.

 

[Hzreio]

You're over thinking it