Does being a joint first author result in disadvantages for a publication? Research results at a glance

Does being a joint first author result in disadvantages for a publication? Research results at a glance

Who is first? The question of whether a paper should have more than one first author, can lead to tense negotiations. The discussions can be equally difficult when it comes to deciding which of two first authors in the first slot is called.

But new results could help ease tensions in such discussions. A study published last month in the journal Scientometrics suggests that there are no reputational disadvantages for shared first authorship, even for the person named second - at least under experimental conditions. 1

"There was no downside to sharing recognition. We didn't expect that," says Miriam Schilbach, co-author of the study and organizational psychologist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She and her co-lead author — organizational psychologist Julian Decius of the University of Bremen, Germany — decided whose name would go first by rolling dice. (Decius won.)

The question of authorship

Authorship is the currency of academic life, and being first author of a prestigious publication can make or break a career. The stakes are so high that 2002 two molecular biologists ended up in court in Germany because of changed author names.

As research projects become more complex and require a broader range of skills, the practice of sharing the highest credit slot, known as joint first authorship, is increasing. This has raised concerns that the first author receives most of the credit and that shared first authorships are viewed as less significant than maintaining the list alone.

The study

To test such ideas, Decius and Schilbach created a resume for a fictional experimental physicist named Kim Mueller. They recruited a panel of about 170 researchers from other disciplines - mostly academics with psychology and management backgrounds - to evaluate the CV. They informed the panel members that Mueller was applying for an assistant professorship and that their three best articles had been published in reputable experimental physics journals.

The duo then randomly assigned each panel member one of four versions of Mueller's resume. In each version, Mueller was listed as either sole first author, second author, joint first author, or joint first author second on all three articles.

Each panel member was then asked to rate six aspects of Mueller's academic success, such as the likelihood of becoming a journal editor in the next five years. The panel members were also asked to estimate Mueller's h-index, a common metric for assessing the influence of publications.

Share the credit

On average, panel members rated Mueller higher on all six aspects of academic success when the fictional physicist was listed as the sole first author than when he was listed as the second author—confirming the importance of first authorship.

1. Decius, J. & Schilbach, M. Scientometr. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-025-05262-w (2025).

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