Research authorship positions

[jdoe192]

Hi all, 

Let me just start off with a bit of background here: Graduated summa cum laude from the top state school, double major in math and econ, working in research since graduation ( a couple of years ago). I took all the important math classes (calc 1-gazillion, linear algebra, the infamous real analysis, programming classes, stats, probability, some grad level classes... you name it. All A's/A-'s) 

 

Applying to Stats/ OR programs this December (dec 2014). I'm shooting for big schools (MIT, or. Harvard, stats to name a couple) 

 

Now that you know my rap sheet, onto the question: 

I was wondering if someone could tell me how the different authorship positions are perceived in the fields of stats and OR, this way I can prioritize the projects that I'm working on right now. For example: First authors will be perceived by the admissions committee as the person who....? [wrote the paper? did the analyses?]

Second author is....?

Third is...?

 

Is moving from 2nd to 3rd author a huge deal (especially for someone who is apply as a post-bac...I'm getting the sense that not a lot of post-bacs have any publications at all)..How much weight do the journals in which these papers get published carry? For example, does a 3rd author position in a top journal matter less than a first author paper in a mediocre journal?

Is overall number of publications more important than authorship position?

 

I know that there might be no answer for these questions, I'm just trying to get a feel for how my application will be perceived and trying to prioritize my projects accordingly, so any help is appreciated here

 

Thanks!

[cyberwulf]

The assumption is that the first author is the one primarily responsible for the content of the paper, and having a published first-author paper, even in a second- or third-tier journal, would put you in relatively rare company among applicants. Being second or third author (order after first doesn't really matter) on a paper in a top-tier journal would be a positive, but I don't think it would carry as much weight as a first authorship.

Edited August 3, 2014 by cyberwulf

[stats_applicant]

In math all the authors are alphabetically ordered and given equal credit.  I don't know if stats/CS/OR are similar or not.

 

In any case I wouldn't worry too much about it; I had zero publications and got in almost everywhere I applied.

[wine in coffee cups]

It's not as if the only piece of information admissions committees will have available to them is a list of your publications. You can (and probably should) talk specifically about your research experiences in your statement of purpose. I would also hope that any letter writers with whom you've worked would convey details about your contributions to their projects. People making decisions don't need to infer the extent of your involvement solely based on authorship order.