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    I'm a bit less concerned about the actual writing than many are. Sometimes a paper is improved if someone with better writing skills puts the actual words down. The contribution can be in editing and discussions about making the presentation accurate, while the "wordsmith" does the actual composition.
    – Buffy
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 19:19
  • 2
    I agree that writing is a key determining factor. Everyone in STEM always moves on to the next exciting idea, but someone has to get the paper done (often over a period of months in dealing with revisions and reviewers).
    – A Simple Algorithm
    Commented Sep 11, 2019 at 17:16
  • 5
    @Buffy exactly. I now work in industry, but we published a paper describing a scientific tool we developed. Since I was the only person available with the academic experience necessary to write the paper, I wrote the entire thing. However, since my contribution to the actual tool was quite small, I put myself smack in the middle of the authors (in my field, the first and last positions are important), in the least important position, despite having written the entire paper myself.
    – terdon
    Commented Sep 12, 2019 at 10:01
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    @Buffy That is true when the person writing is an experienced paper writer. However, when a student does the writing, he typically is not that experienced, and considerable effort will have gone into the writing, giving significant weight to the first author question.
    – TimRias
    Commented Sep 12, 2019 at 16:05
  • I’ve known excellent researchers that couldn’t present or explain their work in a way that would pass a peer review. I’ve also had average PhD students that published in top journals because they could write, present, and defend the work excellently. If someone contributes to the novelty and writes the paper spending months in revisions, they deserve to be first author. Even if they didn’t do the majority of the scientific contribution.
    – electrique
    Commented Sep 12, 2019 at 16:43