PI recently submitted a manuscript we have been working on, but the author order has been swapped without our knowledge. The manuscript has long indicated the author order being A, B,... E*(corresponding author/PI), but now it was recently changed to B, A,... E* on the submission details form. The submitted manuscript title page oddly indicates the same A,B,...E* order. Has anyone else come across this before, and is it worth asking PI about it?
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2Is this a change that was initiated by an author, or is it possible the journal made a mistake? It's hard to tell what you're asking about.– Azor Ahai -him-Nov 13, 2018 at 18:31
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1The order listed in submission forms may or may not have any relevance to the published order of the authors. In many submission forms I've seen, the order you enter the authors is almost irrelevant and the only relevant factor is the order on the actual manuscript. See also, the answers to Supervisor partially putting themselves as first author even though I've done most of the work and written most of the paper.– iayorkNov 13, 2018 at 19:37
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Who submitted the manuscript?– StrongBadNov 14, 2018 at 4:27
1 Answer
Things happen. Online manuscript systems can be confusing and frustrating. If you are not paying attention, mistakes can be made. Assuming the PI did the submission, I would mention it to the them. Something along the lines of
I noticed the order of authors is different between the title page and the submission form. I believe the title page of A, B, C is the correct order. If it is, we should make sure we fix the submission form before publication. If the order is now B, A, C, I would like to discuss the change.
I would do this in person and in a friendly manner. If B did the submission, things are messier, but I would still mention it to the PI directly. If C did the submission, you can email them directly noting the discrepancy.