First author - Conducted most of the work and knows the fine details of the science
Last author - Supervised the project and can range from knowing the research almost as well as the 1st author to having seen the paper only when it was submitted.
Everything in between can be chaos, even the simplest reagent supply can result in co-authorship.
What do author Contributions mean in papers
in Biology
Posted
The contributions don't mean much really...
A safe bet:
First author - Conducted most of the work and knows the fine details of the science
Last author - Supervised the project and can range from knowing the research almost as well as the 1st author to having seen the paper only when it was submitted.
Everything in between can be chaos, even the simplest reagent supply can result in co-authorship.