{"id":7718,"date":"2017-05-29T10:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T04:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=7718"},"modified":"2019-07-19T19:42:37","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T13:42:37","slug":"are-first-author-publications-indispensable-to-bag-your-first-postdoctoral-research-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/are-first-author-publications-indispensable-to-bag-your-first-postdoctoral-research-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Postdoctoral Job Offers: How First-Author Publications Help Shape Research Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does being the first author (or lead author) actually mean? In most cases, especially in academic publishing, the author listed first on a published article is the one who has done the research and has written and edited the paper. He or she is also most likely the contact person for the targeted journal\u2019s editors after their review. Co-authors have usually contributed in a lesser capacity; however, this is not always the case for all disciplines. For example, in the field of mathematics<\/a>, authors are listed alphabetically because \u201cin most areas of mathematics, joint good-quality research is a sharing of ideas and skills that cannot be attributed to the individuals separately.\u201d Some academic journals require a \u201cstatement of contribution\u201d to indicate how much each author contributed to the research and writing.<\/p>\n

So what does all this mean to the recent PhD recipient who is looking for a postdoctoral career position?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n