Emma Jonson Is it better to be second or last author?
It depends on the field and on agreement between authors, but from career perspective it is better if a person has also sometimes been the first author (and in some fields, also published something alone), it does not matter so much if a person has mostly been a second or a third author.
Is second to last author important?
At present, in our academic scientific field the first and the last author and the corresponding author (who may be the first, the second or the last author) are considered the most important positions in a paper.
Do second author papers matter?
It’s always good to have another paper, even if you are second author. A hiring or review committee may ask you to describe your own contribution to the paper. As long as you can do that honestly and point to some substantive contribution to the paper, it will be to your benefit.
Is being second author on a paper good?
Does middle author order matter?
The first authors are the ones that contribute the most. The first author is the one who wrote most of the paper. In Engineering mostly the first authors are the ones contributed the most, after the second or third author, the order does not really matter.
Who is the last author in a book?
The last author, also called the senior author, is PI or head of the research group (formal or informal Primary Investigator, head of the lab, Chief of a medical unit, or Director of a certain program, etc). This is the “someone senior” typically from above who has mentored or supervised the project.
What is the impact factor of the last author?
Author ranking system: ‘Impact factor’ of the last author. We all know that there is a very little room at the first author position on any scientific paper. There can only be one name. Even if two researchers equally contributed to the paper, only one name will appear at the front end of the author list.
When does the last authorship go to the supervisor?
In labs that grow too big, a post-doc (once trained by the supervisor) might take over this role, but the last authorship still goes to the supervisor. It’s like a brand name, it tells you whose lab the work is coming from. If you know a bit about the field, you will know the general ideas the paper will revolve around.
Do you have to be an author to get a Ph.D?
Most Ph.D. programs worldwide require a Ph.D. student to have at least one first-authored paper in order to qualify for a degree. So an authorship dispute would be inevitable if two Ph.D. students were to work on the same project for their degree.