ACADEMIA Letters Lead Authorship Position in Published Articles from Thesis: The Student Versus the Supervisor Dickson Adom, Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Ghana The lead authorship position for published articles from postgraduate theses has been a wres- tle between supervisors and their students. Due to the special signifcance assigned to the frst authors of published articles, it is understandable that the authorship position is the most sought for in academia ((Zauner et al., 2018). In theory, the issue of lead authorship and authorship, in general, seems to be a straightjacket but in practice, that is not the case (Al- bert & Wager, 2003). The phenomenon is agelong and a contemporary wrangle requiring an intellectual probe. Fine and Kurdel (1993) note that the scarcity of reliable guidelines that spells out authorship positions has led to this controversy. Authorship is the most commonly reported complaint especially from postgraduate and postdoctoral students as well as junior faculty (Wilcox, 1998). Studies have shown that students are the most disadvantaged or ex- ploited on issues about lead authorship positions (Sandler & Russell, 2005; Oberlander & Spencer, 2006). Their faith often lies at the mercies of their supervisors who often wield con- siderable power and status in higher institutions. The recommendations of students for further studies and even a faculty position is in most times dependent on the supervisors. Therefore, the disgruntled voices of unethical treatment faced by the students, such as stripping of lead authorship positions, are silenced. In my view, three probable driving factors undergird the desire by supervisors to occupy the lead authorship positions on published articles. The frst and cardinal driving factor has been the high premium placed on the publication of research by higher institutions globally fueled by the famous mantra ‘publish or perish’ (Fawzi & Al-Hattami, 2017). Supervisors usually require the lead authorship slot for their professional and academic growth. In higher institutions globally, research publications hold a high prestige in the promotion of faculty, Academia Letters, August 2021 Corresponding Author: Dickson Adom, dickson.adom@knust.edu.gh Citation: Adom, D. (2021). Lead Authorship Position in Published Articles from Thesis: The Student Versus the Supervisor. Academia Letters, Article 3421. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3421. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0