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Me and one of my friends have recently written a paper and we have almost the same contribution. Is there any conventional way to express this and show this ? How do we sort the name of the authors in such a case?

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    There is a precedent of using a series of croquet games to determine the first author. Or you could just agree to alternate, and make sure you collaborate on an even number of papers.
    – 410 gone
    Sep 21, 2013 at 8:25
  • @EnergyNumbers have you got a reference to the croquet game precedent? That sounds very interesting.
    – user7130
    Sep 21, 2013 at 8:45
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    @UV-D source - the delightful "scientific papers easter eggs" tumblr
    – 410 gone
    Sep 21, 2013 at 11:43
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    @EnergyNumbers that is awesome and is something I am going to suggest to my co-authors for our next paper.
    – user7130
    Sep 21, 2013 at 18:59

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The most common is to list in alphabetical order (in fact you can decide whatever you want) and then write a statement in the acknowledgement to the effect that "both authors have contributed equally to the paper".

In one (odd) example I know of names were listed in reverse alphabetical order. The "first author" was the senior and the second his (in this case) graduate student. They then stated in the acknowledgement that contributions were equal. So in this case the senior scientist wanted the publication listed under his name although it would have been more logical with the students name first. So it is obvious there may be several "reasons" to list other than alphabetical but I think alphabetical should be the way to go. At least in my subject order typically signifies contribution and an inverse order would be a very strong signal.

I have also seen authors who have taken turns to be first when they frequently publish together. That could be a reasonable (fair) alternative when it happens.

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    The "first author" was the senior and the second his (in this case) graduate student. They then stated in the acknowledgement that contributions were equal. — That's just mean.
    – JeffE
    Sep 21, 2013 at 13:13
  • I agree with the point of taking turns to write the author sequence. It greatly encourages to work in collaboration which is the most important goal of research and publications.
    – RahulGupta
    Mar 4, 2014 at 9:47

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