Order Journal/ Reprints
It’s rare that an article is authored by only one or two people anymore. In fact, the average original research paper has five authors. The growing list of collaborative research projects raises important questions regarding the author order for research manuscripts and the impact an author list has on readers’ perceptions.
With a handful of authors, a group might be inclined to create an author name list based on the amount of work contributed. What happens, though, when you have a long list of authors? It would be impractical to rank the authors by their relative contributions. Additionally, what if the authors contribute relatively equal amounts of work? Similarly, if a study was interdisciplinary (and many are these days), how can one individual’s contribution be deemed more significant than another’s?
Why does author order matter?
Although an author list should only reflect those who have made substantial contributions to a research project and its draft manuscript, we’d be remiss to say that author order doesn’t matter. In theory, everyone on the list should be credited equally since it takes a team to successfully complete a project; however, due to industry customs and other practical limitations, some authors will be more visible than others.
The following are some notable implications regarding author order.
- The “first author” is a coveted position because of the increased visibility. This author is the first name readers will see, and because of various citation rules, the first author may be the only name visible. In-text or bibliographic referencing rules, for example, could reduce all other named authors to “et al.” Because of this fact, readers may falsely associate the first author with someone having more importance.
- Traditionally, the last author position is reserved for the supervisor or principal investigator. As such, this person receives much of the credit when the research goes well and the flak when things go wrong. The last author may also be the corresponding author, the person who is the primary contact for journal editors.
- Given that there is no uniform rule about author order, readers may find it difficult to assess the nature of an author’s contribution to a research project. To address this issue, some journals, particularly medical ones, insist on detailed author contribution notes. Nevertheless, even this tactic does little to counter how strongly citation rules have enhanced the attention first-named authors receive.