by Paul » Tue Dec 14, 2004 1:55 pm
No offense to anyone but I am AMAZED at the igorance surrounding the issue of "co-first", "equal contribution", or whatever a journal wants to call it these days.
The current issue of Immunity, a Cell Press journal, has a total of 11 research articles. SIX of these have "equal contributions" for authors! TWO have THREE "equal contributing authors"!!!
To claim that these papers are published with "only one first author" is going to upset some hard working people out there! My take on the statement of "equal contribution" is that the journal is accepting the FACT that there are more than one first author. Why else would they allow this practice? Its, therefore, a misrepresentation to represent yourself as a second author, or lower. The concept of "misrepresentation" being "unethical" applies both ways.