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Traditionally, co-first authors are indicated by an asterisk and the order of the individuals is the decision of the PI. Once the paper is published, it appears in print as follows: co-Author 1*, co-Author 2*, Author 3, and Author 4.
Shared co-first authorship is defined as two or more authors who have worked together on a publication and contributed equally [8]. Some journals publish articles in which shared coauthorship is described, making it easy to determine author contribution.
Can you have 2 first authors?
It’s not uncommon for the first author to have done almost 100% of the work. Two (or more) people can split the first author position by becoming co-authors. In this case, the two names lead the list of authors and a small symbol is put above each with a notation stating that “these two authors contributed equally.”
How many co-first authors can you have?
Only one of the authors will appear as first author, in any publication. Every other entry is a secondary entry. However, corresponding authors could be as many as three depending on the multi-disciplinary nature of the article.
It’s always good to have another paper, even if you are second author. A hiring or review committee may ask you to describe your own contribution to the paper. As long as you can do that honestly and point to some substantive contribution to the paper, it will be to your benefit.
Both of them are authors no doubt but the difference is that the author is the one who has developed the idea or concept for a work while the co-author is a person who is helping the author in writing the work with some contribution. A co-author is also known as a corresponding author.
Is second author or last author better?
Second author has more points in our place than the third or last author. These points also depend also on the number of authors. The higher the number of authors the less points they get when compared when there are few authors. Without first, second, third and so on, the paper will not appear like this.