Re: Genome Study: Africans Have Gene For Salt Retention

on Sat, 25 Mar 2006 16:37:02 GMT, DK <dk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> sez:
` In article <dvq28a$fbi$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, vincent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (pete) wrote:
` >on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:39:08 GMT, DK <dk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> sez:
` >` In article <1142841878.758508.249450@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
` >"Daryl Krupa" <icycalmca@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

` >` > I note that Jonathan Pritchard is the last author in the list,
` >` >suggesting
` >` >that he would be the least senior of teh bunch, and hence perhaps the
` >` >least able to give a reliable, non-sensationalised summary of the
` >` >contents of the study.
` >
` >` Quite the contrary: unless it is a review, the last author is the
` >` MOST SENIOR author - in 99% cases (unless it is a review).
` >
` >In what field is that? It is certainly the opposite of convention
` >as practised in the sciences with which I'm familiar.

` In ALL sciences that are even remotely related to medicine
` and biology I can gurantee it 100%. And I strongly suspect
` that the same is true for all other Earth sciences.

` In this particular case it is obvious: J. Pritchard is a professor
` at U Chicago and B. Voight is his graduate student.
` http://pritch.bsd.uchicago.edu/labMembers.html

Interesting. The physics convention might be approximately summarized
[in each category, further breakdown is alphabetical]
first name(s)=lead author(s)/experiment spokesperson(s), those
who manage the primary grant(s)
next names are major collaborators, those with substantial contributory
grants
next are minor collaborators, consulting contributors
often no distinction is made among full professors, grad students,
even institution support staff, in the second and third categories.

This isn't a rigid structure, and different lead authors may
vary it according to preference. For instance sometimes major
collaborators are ordered first alphabetically by institution.
For a large experiment, there are lots of names, and lots of
variations to play with. Some major experiments have two solid
pages of authors.

However, when a cite is made, the structure is usually "Jones,
Smith, et al", where Jones and Smith will be the first two
names, the lead authors in the description above. It would be
odd to have those names at the end of the list, and equally
odd to cite the paper by a name other than the chief experimenters/
spokespersons, or by names other than those which appear
first on the list.

There are what might be called exceptions to this, ie when a
paper is also a student's PhD thesis, the student will have
a lead author position in the paper, but these papers are
typically only contributory to the goal of an experiment,
rather than containing the primary results, and for the
latter the collaboration will also release a major paper with
the structure I've described above.

--
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vincent@triumf[munge].ca Pete Vincent
Disclaimer: all I know I learned from reading Usenet.
.