Q: I am concerned about the first author change
As a first author, I did more than 90% of the research design, experimentation, analysis, paper writing, and submission alone. (For the submission, the journal requires the corresponding author to submit the final submission, so I filled out the entire submission page and handed it over to a supervisor who is the corresponding author.)
However, during the revision process after receiving a review, the supervisor said that he would have someone else participate in the revision against my will and mark him as the co-first author. Since I raised an objection, the supervisor has thoroughly excluded me from the paper revision/resubmission process.
Even if the co-first author is added, I want to keep the first order, and I have expressed my intention to participate in the revision of the paper, but there is no response from the supervisor.
When I asked how the submission is progressing and asked to show the paper, he only said that the second revision was in progress and I could not check the paper.
After the first submission, the journal sent an e-mail to all co-authors, but since then, I have not received any e-mails from the journal. So, I am very worried that I will not be able to keep the first author position or be dropped from the paper. A research paper is in someone else's hands and I can't even verify it, should I tell the editor? What should I do?
This is a tricky situation to be in; however, it is not uncommon for rifts to arise because of disagreements about authorship. It is important, therefore, to establish authorship before embarking on a study. Note that major changes made to a manuscript in response to reviewer comments (e.g., adding new data, new analyses) might justify the inclusion of a new author. However, most journals adhere to guidelines laid down by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) with regard to authorship. According to COPE, once a paper has undergone revision, if one or more authors are added or removed or the author order is changed, the journal will require a letter signed by all the original and additional authors stating the reason for the change and that all authors agree on the addition, removal, and/or reordering (see COPE flowcharts for author addition and removal).
In your situation, your name cannot be dropped without your consent (as well as that of the other original authors) at this stage because the journal will not proceed without the authors’ signed declaration. Even if the corresponding author decides to withdraw the submission and resubmit the paper elsewhere, a letter signed by all the original authors will be required. To be sure of the journal’s policies, please check if the target journal is COPE compliant; journal websites usually have a section on authorship policies. If you still have doubts about how the journal handles such situations, you can contact the editor directly, explaining the situation in detail.
This content belongs to the Conducting Research Stage