Research authorship

[dbeast]

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Hey guys, at risk of sounding like a total idiot (I'm on surgery right now so I don't care anymore), does anybody have a good rundown on how research author listing works? For example, 1st author generally puts in the most work, last author is the head person in charge, and then is everybody in the middle just in descending order of their contribution? Does that sound right? Thanks my peeps.

 

[DrEnderW]

That is correct for the most part.

Obviously, seniority and other such factors can change the order of authorship in the middle of that list - especially if you don't have a doctorate.

 

[Mr Avante]

Drafting of articles generally grants authorship, but that depends obviously.

 

[JoshSt]

Correct but please communicate with your coauthors so they're not surprised by their rank on the list. I've had some person threaten to 'report' me to something-or-other because I put them one spot lower than they thought they deserved.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Hey guys, at risk of sounding like a total idiot (I'm on surgery right now so I don't care anymore), does anybody have a good rundown on how research author listing works? For example, 1st author generally puts in the most work, last author is the head person in charge, and then is everybody in the middle just in descending order of their contribution? Does that sound right? Thanks my peeps.

Basically, but the ranking is highly dependent on what the P.I. considers important. Some P.I.s don't consider doing hands on work as "authorship warranted" work. Those P.I.s think those who did the planning of the experiments and contributed ideologically to the experiment. I received a second author for reviewing a written manuscript and helping write it, while I did no experimental, bench work for it while the lab techs who did the data production were farther down in authorship. P.I. considered my mental contribution more important than the lab techs work. However, in undergrad I received no authorship on some papers even though I produced some of the data myself, I just didn't contribute much in the planning stage....

Some P.I.s will give you an authorship just for standing around and watching a graduate student do the experiment. This is just highly variable.