Difference between first author and co-first author - (Feb/22/2013 )

Whats the difference in workload/contribution between 1st author and co-first author?

Does it matter who comes first? (I think the first co-first author gets cited instead of co-1, co-2 et al 2013).

Technically co-authors are all the authors on the paper. Some papers specify if more than one author has put in an equal contribution.(e.g. author X*, author Y* author Z. *-these authors contributed equally to this work).

Usually the citation will be the first author only, but it depends on the citation style you use.

bob1 on Fri Feb 22 08:42:28 2013 said:

but in most citation styles, the equal contributors dont get cited at all (e.g. X et al 2013 instead of X, Y, Z et al 2013)

Just curious, is a first authorship then "worth more" than a shared first authorship ?

Tabaluga on Sat Feb 23 18:35:32 2013 said:

If papers are quoted, its always the first author that will get the quote... So even if they have a shared first authorship, in the end its the first one that gets his name in the quotes.

The first on are always the ones people remember ... (with the last one, but those are just remembered because they allready established their name)

OK. But in terms of what it's worth if you apply somewhere ? Will a shared first authorship be considered of equal value as a normal first authorship ? Probably not, I think...

sure every paper and even short communication or abstract in proceedings is important for your CV, even if only second, third or 20th author...in my CV I always write my name in bold in the list with such stuff