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> Unlike many scientific fields, mathematics has no concept of "first author" or "senior author"; contributors are simply listed alphabetically. I don't think
by trostaft 2y ago
> Unlike many scientific fields, mathematics has no concept of "first author" or "senior author"; contributors are simply listed alphabetically.
I don't think this is (generally) true? Speaking as a math postdoc right now, at least in my field of computational mathematics there's definitely a notion of first author. Though, a note of individual contributions at the bottom of the paper is becoming more common.
- nicf 2y agoI was an algebraic geometer when I was still doing research in the field, and it was definitely true in that corner of the world. Authors are alphabetical, and you usually cite the paper by listing them all, no "et al"'s. I think I didn't even know there was such a thing as "first author" until I worked in ML.
- pathsjs 2y agoComputational mathematics may have adopted conventions from computer science, but I assure you that the alphabetical order convention is definitely the standard in most pure mathematics (with some exceptions, such as the Ascoli-Arzelà theorem)