Quote From damned:
Wow OK then. That last comment was basically saying "bend over and take it from your supervisor as he is your God and you do not want to anger him".
Sorry, but I believe I have a spine and a bit of self respect. Sure I can graduate from my PhD with no first author publications, however having at least one first author publication makes my CV look so much better.
And NO, the person who physically sits down to write the paper is NOT the person who automatically gets their name as first author. It's the person who does the most work, including taking into account the effort of writing.
Why ask for advice when you've clearly already made your mind up about the issue? Mackem-beefy spends time replying to your concern and in your reply you basically tell him that he's talking crap and asking you to bow down to your sup? Read his post properly.
If you had taken the time to search through previous posts, you would have seen that this issue (regarding first author/not being first author/who should be first author/I don't want to submit the paper if I'm not first author) has come up time and time again on this forum. Use the search function and have a look through.
If you are desperate to be first author, despite the possibility of peeing off your supervisor which comes with all sorts of issues (one of which potentially being a bad reference from them; something a lot worse than not having a first author on your CV), then go ahead and give your sup an ultimatum.
His comment 'order to be arranged to fairly reflect contribution' is completely understandable.
