Scientists often discuss (or bicker) about the
order of authorship on papers. “I got a first-author paper published!” or “I
was only second author on the paper.”
What do such phrases mean?
The first author on a paper is supposed to be the
person who worked the most on the paper. Usually, the researcher who did the
research of the paper, not necessarily the person who did the most writing.
(See Lead Author, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_author).
Often, this is the graduate student who worked on the project.
