OK to have a student as last author?

[AllDay24]

My PI has offered me to be second author or last author on a paper with 6 authors. He said I can also be the corresponding author. For political reasons (complicated), someone else (not the PI) is gonna be first author.

If I take last author, will that be weird? My PI I assume is fine with being second to last since he offered me last author. To my credit, I have authored a ton of papers with this PI so maybe it won't be so weird having a junior person like me (a med student) as last author?

We are submitting to a highly reputable derm journal so I wanted to make sure and not lose out on the best possible authorship on this paper.

Thanks!

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[IslandStyle808]

If you can take second, take it and run. You don't want people misinterpreting what your contribution was to the paper.

 

[AllDay24]

Thanks Islandstyle! I thought the same as you at first, but the situation is a bit complicated. The paper is a follow-up study of drug X, and I was first author of the original paper on drug X. I assume PDs would see this and realize that being last author does not mean I contributed the least but rather I took charge of the study given that I was heavily involved as first author on the first paper (as well as oral presenter at AAD) on this drug X.

I also have >15 papers as first author, so I figure being last author might add something different. My PI is also last author on all other papers I have done with him (>25). To me, being the last author on a paper with him second-to-last might suggest I contributed a lot and somehow "earned" last author away from him.

I know this is splitting hairs but this could be my best paper journal-wise so I appreciate any and all input. Thanks guys!!!

 

[blackblue]

I still think second author is better. I personally don't know a lot about how closely various interviewers would look at a publication list, but if it's a quick glance, then a second authorship will look better and make more sense than a last author. I highly doubt someone would notice first author on paper about drug X, last author on follow-up paper and put 2 and 2 together while skimming an application. Just my two cents though.

 

[dermathalon]

Last author is a senior author except when you are clearly not the PI or the supervising person on the project, in which case you get shunted to getting less credit. Among medical students (unless you are the supervising PI) second author is better than last author.

 

[kjamess]

>15 papers as first author...on all other papers I have done with him (>25).

are you an md/phd?

 

[Tamahawk]

My PI has offered me to be second author or last author on a paper with 6 authors. He said I can also be the corresponding author. For political reasons (complicated), someone else (not the PI) is gonna be first author.

If I take last author, will that be weird? My PI I assume is fine with being second to last since he offered me last author. To my credit, I have authored a ton of papers with this PI so maybe it won't be so weird having a junior person like me (a med student) as last author?

We are submitting to a highly reputable derm journal so I wanted to make sure and not lose out on the best possible authorship on this paper.

Thanks!

Whoa! I am shocked to hear so many people suggesting second author is better than last author. This is 100% wrong. Last author is CERTAINLY better...so much so that I had to use ALL-CAPS. Lol. But tbh, with the number of publications you have, you could sign your name as Prince's weird symbol on your application and be accepted like Visa.

 

[ratherbefishing]

Agree totally with Tamahawk. Last author is the most prestigious position, along with first. If you've had a bunch of papers with this PI, then I'd be able to tell that you garnered enough seniority to merit last authorship. You could also * the reference to show that you are corresponding author, which further supports that you were the senior (not refering to age) on the paper.

 

[AllDay24]

Thank you all!

 

[dermathalon]

Last author is not better for a medical student unless they are truly the PI and running the show. You don't get pseudo-kudos for this. Here is how it works:

1) If you actually are the senior author then last author means that you are he supervisor for the study.

2) A medical student is almost never the actual supervising person...even if you are god's gift to that attending, you are not the actual supervisor. No one reading your application is going to believe that you were the supervising person either. In this case, last author literally means that you were shunted to the end. Sure, there may be a few people that don't know the difference and may say "whoa" you are last author. But there are way way more people that say "please come on" when you are a med student in the last author position and basically assume that you got stuck on the paper as the caboose. That also begs the question on where did the actual supervisor list themselves on the author list but that's a totally different conversation. Let me put it another way. If you are truly the senior author as a medical student, then why are you not first author?

3) Second authorship means that you actually did a lot for the publication. Maybe not enough to be the first author but you clearly contributed in a substantial way to get second author (unless there are only three authors and you are the middle one).

4) A corresponding author can be either a first or last author. I've seen first authors be the corresponding author for the med students that really took charge of a study. BTW, very few people actually look at the corresponding author when they are looking down a list of pubs for the student.

5) The caveat to all this is if your PI writes a letter that clearly state the exceptional scenario for why you were a last author.

To the OP, if you are that senior that the PI will give you last authorship, then you can take it, but then have it backed up. Make sure that your PI is able to include this in a letter and basically talks about you as a godsend for the project/publication.

 

[smartparts]

Agree with the other people who said take second author. A med student as last author means the contribution was minimal as it is obvious you don't own the lab/grant and are not the PI.

 

[caribbeanstallion]

Hi AllDay24, you probably already decided and submitted this but just so you know you can be second author AND corresponding author if you like. You or whoever is submitting it electronically just needs to mark you as the corresponding author. Then, all you do is that when you put the citation on your CV you bold your full name on every publication in your CV and an asterisk or a plus symbol next to your name in the publication you are corresponding and make a note with the asterisk or plus symbol next to the reference saying "+corresponding author".

For example:
[1] Jaffe AE+, Shin J, Collado-Torres L, Leek JT, Tao R, Li C, Gao Y, Jia Y, Maher BJ, Hyde TM, Kleinman JE, Weinberger DR+. Developmental regulation of human cortex transcription and its clinical relevance at base resolution. Nature Neuroscience. 2014 Dec 15. PMID: 25501035 +corresponding author

Full CV from example: google "curriculum vitae andrew jaffe"

A last author is usually the senior author, but not necessarily the corresponding author. In my opinion the most important author in a paper is always the corresponding author since they are the ones who answer questions regarding the paper/ they should be the most knowledgeable about all aspects of the field and specific study. If you were actually the senior author, say you are the second coming and your grants founded the whole lab, etc. I would never say senior author because it would sound weird at this point. If you indeed are the second coming, etc. the PDs would know based on other aspects of your application (i.e., grants and sizes listed in your CV, people you list as having mentored etc.).