Table 1.

Perceived credit per author by their byline position on a hypothetical manuscript, divided into separate categories of contribution

Author position	Initial conception	Work performed	Supervision	Mean
Three-author paper (last author as the corresponding author)
First	37 ± 16 (35)	57 ± 15 (60)	33 ± 23 (30)	42 ± 13
Second	–	–	–	–
Middle	14 ± 10 (10)	23 ± 10 (20)	13 ± 12 (10)	17 ± 6
Fourth	–	–	–	–
Last*	49 ± 21 (50)	20 ± 13 (20)	54 ± 28 (50)	41 ± 19
Five-author paper (last author as the corresponding author)a
First	29 ± 16 (P≤ 0.004)	(30) 46 ± 17 (P≤ 0.001)	(50) 29 ± 20 (P≤ 0.29)	(22.5) 34 ± 14
Second	10 ± 8 (10)	16 ± 7 (20)	9 ± 7 (10)	12 ± 10
Middle	6 ± 6 (P≤ 0.001)	(5) 11 ± 5 (P≤ 0.001) (10)	7 ± 6 (P≤ 0.001) (5)	8 ± 2
Fourth	6 ± 6 (5)	10 ± 5(10)	6 ± 6(5)	7 ± 2
Last*	48 ± 25 (P≤ 0.90) (50)	17 ± 14 (P≤ 0.24) (10)	49 ± 28 (P≤ 0.27) (50)	38 ± 22
Five-author paper (middle author as the corresponding author)b
First	31 ± 15 (P≤ 0.51) (30)	44 ± 17 (P≤ 0.51) (40)	28 ± 17 (P≤ 0.67) (20)	34 ± 9
Second	10 ± 7 (P≤ 0.69) (10)	16 ± 7 (P≤ 0.55) (15)	12 ± 13 (P≤ 0.10) (10)	13 ± 3
Middle*	34 ± 20 (P≤ 0.001) (30)	20 ± 10 (P≤ 0.001) (20)	33 ± 20 (P≤ 0.001) (30)	29 ± 8
Fourth	7 ± 9 (P≤ 0.59) (5)	9 ± 7 (P≤ 0.91) (10)	8 ± 7 (P≤ 0.11) (10)	8 ± 1
Last	18 ± 18 (P≤ 0.001) (10)	11 ± 9 (P≤ 0.001) (10)	19 ± 19 (P≤ 0.001) (10)	16 ± 4

Perceived credit mean percentage plus standard deviation and (median) per author by their byline position on a hypothetical manuscript, divided into separate categories of contribution. P-values reported in parentheses.

^aCompared with the three-author paper.

^bCompared with the five-author paper with last author corresponding.

Corresponding author.