I review a grant application. One of the applicants, Author B, has published an article in a high impact journal as joint first author with Author A (Author A is not in the grant application). In the journal, the published order of authors is

Author A°, Author B°, ... (here, the "°" illustrate the joint first authorship)

However in the grant application, Author B refers to the same publication as:

Author B°, Author A°, ...

Author B put her/himself in the first position while citing her/his own published article (both in the body of the text and the reference section - the inversion is therefore not a typo).

Is it common practice to reverse the order of authors in a citation in such context? I asked this question to a few colleagues and they say that it is not unfamiliar to read this. Some are surprised though, but some understand - a very light academic misconduct that is acceptable.

The situation is embarrassing as I am quite surprised of the order inversion. I wonder if I need to report it to the grant committee (a national research body). If I report it and the misconduct is finally not seen as I see it, I would have impaired the application on a false reason. Thank you for your views on this.

I review a grant application. One of the applicants, Author B, has published an article in a high impact journal as joint first author with Author A (Author A is not in the grant application). In the journal, the published order of authors is

Author A°, Author B°, ... (here, the "°" illustrate the joint first authorship)

However in the grant application, Author B refers to the same publication as:

Author B°, Author A°, ...

Author B put themself in the first position while citing their own published article (both in the body of the text and the reference section - the inversion is therefore not a typo).

Is it common practice to reverse the order of authors in a citation in such context? I asked this question to a few colleagues and they say that it is not unfamiliar to read this. Some are surprised though, but some understand - a very light academic misconduct that is acceptable.

The situation is embarrassing as I am quite surprised of the order inversion. I wonder if I need to report it to the grant committee (a national research body). If I report it and the misconduct is finally not seen as I see it, I would have impaired the application on a false reason.