Direct comparison
Corresponding vs Co- vs Contributing Author
How corresponding author, co-author, and contributing author differ: one is a defined ICMJE role, one covers everyone on the byline, one has no fixed meaning.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | Corresponding Author | Co-Author | Contributing Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it fundamentally is | A designated operational role: primary point of contact with the journal. | A relational term — anyone who shares the author byline with at least one other author. | An informally used label with no single accepted definition across journals. |
| Formally defined by a standard? | Yes — ICMJE's "Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors" guidance. | Implicitly, as the general condition of shared authorship; not a named criterion. | No — not defined by ICMJE or CRediT (ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022); usage varies by journal. |
| How many people can hold it | Usually one; co-corresponding authorship (jointly held by two or more) is an established, growing practice. | Two or more, by definition — a sole-authored paper has no co-authors. | Varies entirely by how the publication chooses to use the term. |
| Implies meeting full authorship criteria? | Yes — the corresponding author is a full author who also holds the liaison duty. | Yes — by definition, a co-author is a listed author. | Not necessarily — sometimes used for people who don't meet full authorship criteria (closer to a non-author/acknowledged contributor), sometimes used as a synonym for co-author. |
| Core responsibility | Manages submission, peer-review correspondence, administrative requirements, and post-publication queries. | Shares in the underlying authorship criteria (contribution, drafting/review, approval, accountability) — no separate duty attached to the label itself. | Undefined as a fixed duty; depends entirely on the specific journal's or paper's usage. |
| Indicates seniority or effort level? | No — it is a procedural assignment, not a contribution-scope claim. | No — carries no information about position or contribution size. | No fixed signal — varies by the (non-standard) usage in play. |
| Typical byline presentation | Marked with a symbol (e.g. an asterisk) and an email address in the author note, alongside normal byline listing. | Listed by name in the byline itself, in whatever author-order convention the field uses. | Inconsistent — sometimes in the byline, sometimes in a separate acknowledgments or group-member list depending on the publication. |
| Overlaps with other roles? | Frequently also the first or senior/last author, but not required to be either. | Encompasses every other role on this page — first, senior, corresponding, and contributing authors are all also co-authors. | May overlap with co-author, or with a non-author "acknowledged contributor," depending on the journal's usage. |
| Where to look for the exact meaning | ICMJE recommendations — consistent across ICMJE-following journals. | General authorship convention — no separate lookup needed. | That specific journal's or publisher's own author guidelines — cannot be assumed from general usage. |
Common questions
FAQ
Is the corresponding author always the first author?+
No. Corresponding-author status and byline position are independent decisions made by the author group. The corresponding author is often the first author or the senior/last author, but any listed author can be designated corresponding author.
Does "contributing author" mean the same thing as "acknowledged contributor"?+
Sometimes, but not reliably. Some journals use "contributing author" for someone credited for input that falls short of full authorship, overlapping with ICMJE's "non-author contributor" concept. Other uses of the phrase are closer to a plain synonym for co-author. Check the specific publication's own definition rather than assuming.
Can a paper have more than one corresponding author?+
Yes. Co-corresponding authorship — two or more people jointly handling journal communication — is an established and increasingly common practice, and should be explicitly disclosed in the author note rather than inferred.
Who is accountable if something is wrong with the published paper — only the corresponding author?+
No. Under ICMJE's authorship criteria, every author who meets all four requirements has agreed to be accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the work, not only the corresponding author. The corresponding-author role adds communication and administrative duties on top of that shared accountability, it does not narrow accountability down to one person.
Going deeper
