PI expects me to write everything, but the first author won't even respond to journal revisions.
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I'm a research fellow working on a funded research project. A student was assigned a portion of the project and generated some of the experimental data.
When it came time to publish, I asked the student to prepare the manuscript. They weren't willing to write it. I provided guidance and comments, but there was very little engagement. Eventually, my PI asked me to write the manuscript from scratch.
I ended up writing every section, formatting, and submitting the manuscript to a journal from his thesis.
Now the journal has sent comments that require revisions and author input. The student, who is listed as the first author, is still not responding or taking responsibility for the revisions. Once again, my PI expects me to handle everything while the student remains the first author.
I completely understand mentoring students and helping them improve their writing. What I'm struggling with is this: if someone is unwilling to write the manuscript, doesn't meaningfully participate in revisions, and doesn't respond during the journal review process, should they still be the first author?
How do your labs handle situations like this? Have you encountered similar authorship disputes, and if so, how were they resolved?