NarfingerMay 9, 2023
blinry

Finally, a solution to the unfairness of authorship ordering in scientific papers! 😂

"Every Author as First Author"

https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.01393

Every Author as First Author

We propose a new standard for writing author names on papers and in bibliographies, which places every author as a first author -- superimposed. This approach enables authors to write papers as true equals, without any advantage given to whoever's name happens to come first alphabetically (for example). We develop the technology for implementing this standard in LaTeX, BibTeX, and HTML; show several examples; and discuss further advantages.

arXiv.org
May 9, 2023 at 3:33pmWeb
Show threadJan DMay 9, 2023
@blinry how about random order? Or is the necessary magic blocked for security reasons today?
Show threadI Can't Believe It's Not Zero!May 9, 2023
@simulo @blinry I have always wanted to have PDFs randomize author order on load. Makes bibliography spicy, though.
Show threadBenMay 10, 2023
@steve @simulo @blinry might as well just use set notation at that point. For a book chapter I contributed to, we included a note that authors' names were alphabetized, and not intended to represent any sort of rank of contribution.
Show threadI Can't Believe It's Not Zero!May 10, 2023
@ben_zen @simulo @blinry Alphabetizing names is the norm in my field, but introduces its own bias...
Show threadIndieterminacyMay 10, 2023
@steve @ben_zen @simulo @blinry Consider hashes for all contributors - though the choice of algorithm could then become contentious.
Show threadPanegyr  May 9, 2023
@blinry this feels like a sigbovik submission
Show threadRobin Syl 🌸 May 9, 2023
@blinry @kieran I see they reinvented round robin
Show threadNafeon the BearMay 9, 2023
@blinry I like how this comes from a chaos.social account XD.
Show threadblinryMay 9, 2023
@NafiTheBear Heh :D
Show threadnotsoloudMay 9, 2023

@blinry
I recall seeing a peasants' complaint being signed in a circle so the powers-that-were could not make an example of the top signer.

Different background, same goal, same result. A beautiful example of design convergence.

Show threadDr. Tineke D'HaeseleerMay 10, 2023

@notsoloud @blinry
Inner Mongolia, fairly recently (past 5 or 10 years?): they revived an older tradition from the steppe/nomad culture IIRC, to complain to higherups about the treatment of Mongolian language/culture/education. Very interesting.

That’s the case I am aware of, but of course likely other cultures did/do it too!

Show threadMatt NoyesMay 9, 2023
@blinry an old labor union trick, to protect the instigators
Show threadIndieterminacyMay 10, 2023
@Matt_Noyes @blinry Did they ever arrest Bill Posters however?
Show threadAshton WiersdorfMay 9, 2023

@blinry Can you embed a GIF in a PDF? You can just make the names shuffle around too if you can.

I like the superposition-vibe of this kind of thing though. 💯

Show threadIndieterminacyMay 10, 2023
@wiersdorf @blinry Tikz now has an animation feature, so that could be feasible declaratively.
Show threadWilfried KlaebeMay 9, 2023
@blinry just have the author list scroll endlessly with random start point...
Show threadsabikMay 10, 2023
@wonka @blinry
Finally a second valid use of the marquee tag
Show threadTrägerendmuffeMay 9, 2023
@blinry Things you can only do with LaTeX
Show threadgoneMay 9, 2023
@blinry I think this is a good example of the solution being stupid but the question not being as stupid.
Show threadJonathan👣🚲May 9, 2023
@blinry I wonder what @drbecky_ would make of this. She tends to call out the first author with a picture _and collaborators_ in her videos. Shame this account on Mastodon is only a passive mirror.
Show threadGeoff 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿May 9, 2023
@blinry If I change my name to "I picked this name to be visible as the first author on scientific papers screw that lot ---> Geoffrey Geoffers Geofferson"....
Show threadAnselm SchülerMay 9, 2023
@blinry This unfortunately gives an advantage to those with the longest names.
Show threadAndrewMay 9, 2023
@schuelermine @blinry solution: hash everyone’s name so they’re the same length
Show threadlunaMay 10, 2023
@cinebox @schuelermine @blinry But now no one is citeable.
Show threadAnselm SchülerMay 10, 2023
@themeowgicalfairycat @cinebox @blinry But aren’t they if the hashes are unique and consistent? Just cite everybody by SHA256 of UTF-8
Show threadlunaMay 10, 2023
@schuelermine @cinebox @blinry doesn’t solve the ‘i can’t read a single hash to cite’ problem though
Show threadAnselm SchülerMay 11, 2023
@themeowgicalfairycat @cinebox @blinry oh right
Show threadAlice ZhangMay 12, 2023
@schuelermine @blinry From the “Future Work” section: “One limitation of our new standard for listing names is that longer surnames gain some bias. For example, “Olds” (the second half of “Mitchell-Olds”) is clearly visible in FMeidtcehrell-Olds (2003). Will this lead to longer and longer academic surnames in the future?”
Show threadHabrokMay 9, 2023
@blinry @fuzzyleapfrog Ein Paper für Deine Sammlung?
Show threadFuzzy LeapfrogMay 9, 2023
@Habrok42 @blinry Brilliant. Habe erst vorgestern noch das Paper "Shared First Authorship" in eine Lerneinheit meiner Studis eingebaut 😂 Das landet direkt in der Strange Stuff Collection.
Show threadFuzzy LeapfrogMay 9, 2023
@Habrok42 @blinry Die Sammlung ist übrigens öffentlich zum Erfreuen für alle. Ich freue mich hingegen immer über Ergänzungsvorschläge 🤓 https://www.zotero.org/groups/4682147/strange_stuff/library
Zotero | Your personal research assistant

Show threadOmar LizardoMay 9, 2023
@blinry Perfect if you are planning to submit to the Journal of Universal Rejection https://www.universalrejection.org/
Journal of Universal Rejection

Show threadDavid D. LevineMay 9, 2023
@blinry "Circular arrangements also seem difficult to apply to small numbers of authors such as 2."
Show threadGeoffrey IrvingMay 9, 2023
@blinry One flaw:
Show threadKazinatorMay 9, 2023

@blinry

Joking aside, there is another solution: write your own damn paper by yourself, and put exactly one name on it.

Show threadPetraMay 10, 2023
@blinry I love the idea of researchers signing their names as if mutineers, to prevent reprisals against the PI
Show threadFabian N. T.May 10, 2023
@blinry Reminds me of an anecdote from one of those Game Developer Conference post-mortems: During the development the project manager had to deal with two teams, both lead by folks with rather big egos (🙄), nobody wanted to be the "second team" – so they got called "Team 1" and "Team A" 😆
Show threadMark GritterMay 10, 2023

@blinry While I love this very much, one problem is that I can distinguish the presence of an author I recognize (Erik Demaine) while not ones I'm less familiar with, leading to a different sort of bias. :)

I will read the paper and see if this is addressed.

Show threadGstpulldnMay 10, 2023
@blinry there was a British paper where they decided the author order by playing cricket.
Show threadEmily  🏳️‍⚧️ May 10, 2023
@blinry clearly the best solution would be to have the authors agree on one super-name, following practices used by fandom shippers.
Show threadAnne PasekMay 10, 2023
@blinry I like the idea of a unique glyph for each author configuration
Show threadIsaac Erbele, MDMay 10, 2023
@blinry Truly, I have gazed into the depths of the abyss.
Show threadUrsidinoj/The BjornsdottirsMay 10, 2023
@blinry snrk.
Show threadStephanie 🎀May 10, 2023
@blinry Now try it with the Higgs Boson discovery paper 🤣🤣🤣
Show threadlevampyreMay 10, 2023
@blinry Works fine, as long as machines are the only ones reading the paper or citation.
Show threadJanisMay 10, 2023
@blinry No one does this on actual paper anymore, maybe Adobe Acrobat (others will follow) needs a new openly-readable-source feature in the form of a Random Order List Box.
Show threadΨ*ΨMay 10, 2023
@blinry high energy physics papers would just look redacted
Show threadTim N7KOMMay 10, 2023
@blinry lmao
Show threadMichaelaMay 10, 2023
@blinry I'm not surprised to learn that latex allows this kind of cursed wizardry. Of course it does.
Show threadblan©k.May 10, 2023
@blinry 🤣🤣🤣 i cannot
Show threadJeremy (יעקב) 🇺🇦May 10, 2023

@sonyablanck @blinry

SCIENCE!!

Show threadjanwoMay 10, 2023
@blinry There's still an advantage for people with longer than average names, because more of their names remains legible.
Show threadLupinoMay 10, 2023
@blinry i'd suggest using \rlap{} to print stuff ontop of other stuff instead of moving it around with negative vertical skips.
Show threadFrédéric PaletouMay 10, 2023
@blinry Extension du Demaine de la lutte... #ironème
Show threadRobert GaleMay 10, 2023
@blinry This is great work, though I am concerned that the inevitable emergence of z-index prestige wasn’t covered in the discussion/limitations
Show threadMr. Bruno May 10, 2023
@blinry sometimes I doodle a word by writing each letter on top of itself.
Show threadPascal 🇪🇺 🇺🇦May 10, 2023
@blinry
I'd like to propose the paper "Every Author as First Author"
to the Ig Nobel Prize committee.
The acceptance speech ought to be mind blowing.