Hi Everyone,

This is a slightly different take on the previous post. I am working on a paper and was originally going to be the sole first author. My PI is now suggesting that another student and I be co-first authors on the paper. The other student has contributed quite a bit (but not as much as I have), and my PI says that having another co-first author on the paper would not hurt me. Do you all believe this to be true? I feel like it would take away from my work, but am worried about rocking the boat and causing problems at this point in my graduate career.
Any help/ advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Hi Aggie01,

I am not sure how that would work in practice; in the publication, by definition, there will be one name that is printed first, the first author, then the other etc.
In your situation it sounds that you would be the first author, the other student could be the second (presuming any other co-authors, professor etc. are happy regarding this).
I would assure that I would be the first author, the others, as long as they are involved, is a matter of negotiation.
:-)