"Where will my name be in the order?" — on multi-author papers this is the most sensitive and dispute-prone question. Authorship isn't a courtesy; it's a matter of accountability: who counts as an author and in what order follows clear rules. Here's how authorship is decided and how to avoid disputes.
Who can be an author?
Under the international ICMJE criteria, authorship requires all four:
- A substantial contribution to the design, data or interpretation;
- Drafting or critically revising the work;
- Approving the version to be published;
- Accepting accountability for the whole work.
Merely collecting data, providing funding or general supervision — alone — isn't enough for authorship; those belong in the acknowledgements.
Who is the corresponding author?
The corresponding author manages the submission and correspondence: communication with the editor/reviewers, coordination of revisions and statements, and being the contact for post-publication questions. They needn't be the most senior author — often it's the person who actually wrote the paper. The corresponding author usually coordinates the response-to-reviewers letter too.
What does author order mean?
| Position | Typical meaning |
|---|---|
| First author | Contributed most; did the work (usually the junior researcher) |
| Last author | Senior/lead (advisor, lab head) |
| Corresponding author | Manages correspondence + submission (independent of order; marked ★) |
| Middle authors | By order of contribution |
Caution: this convention varies by field. Some disciplines (e.g. mathematics, economics) list authors alphabetically and don't imply seniority/contribution from order. Learn your target field's norm.
Misconduct: ghost and gift authorship
- Gift (honorary) authorship: giving authorship to someone without a real contribution (e.g. a department head).
- Ghost authorship: leaving a real contributor off the list.
- Both are publication-ethics violations and, if detected, can lead to rejection or retraction; ethics issues are among the reasons papers get rejected.
Avoiding disputes
The most effective way is to discuss up front: decide the author list and order at the start of the work and put it in writing (email suffices); update it as contributions change. Contribution taxonomies like CRediT (conceptualization, methodology, writing, etc.) transparently document who did what and prevent later arguments.
Authorship and order deserve as much seriousness as the paper's scientific content. As you structure your work and prepare it for the right journal, Peerfect's free pre-review engine shows pre-submission gaps — including ethics statements — through an editor's eyes, so both the science and the process are sound.