How should I write or abbreviate my Indian name in academic papers?

Question

I am Sulthan from India. In India, we use the first letter of our father's first name as our initial. So in my school records my name is "A.Sulthan". On official documents, such as PAN, licence, voter ID, and Aadhar Card, I use my name alone as "Sulthan" and my father's name is written as "Ayyup Kan". For my passport, my father's name is used as my last name. So my name is written as "Sulthan Ayyup Kan".

Now I am a researcher and author. I write papers with the name "A.Sulthan" when submitting it for publication and peer review. I am confused about how I should write my first name and last name. For example, for my last name, should I use the initial "A." or ".A"? Also, I would appreciate some suggestions on using names in publication.

Answer 1

Ultimately, consistency between papers is more important than whether it matches any of your other documents. Just pick a way you like to write it and make sure you always keep it the same in future papers.

Points to keep in mind for picking your "researcher name":

• For better or for worse, anglo-saxon norms are dominant in English research publications. The closer your name looks to "Firstname [I.] Lastname", the less confusion (and hence people citing differently/wrongly) will happen. ".A", in particular, is very unusual and will likely be mistaken for a typo and "corrected" into "A." frequently.
• A unique name makes your papers more easy to find. If there are already 5 people publishing under the name "Sulthan Kan", maybe pick "Sulthan Ayyup Kan" instead.