[matheist]

In mathematics, multiple authors are always listed alphabetically by family name; ie there is no "first" or "second" author.

In the situation you describe, the paper would probably be singly authored, and the author would write something like "Thanks to my advisor _____ and to my colleagues ____ for many helpful discussions" in an acknowledgments section.

If the contributions were more serious, then possibly the author would invite the others to co-author with him/her, and the others would then either accept (and then help write the paper) or politely decline and say "just mention me in the acknowledgments".

At least in my experience, co-authorship carries responsibilities: to help with the writing, the figures, references, dealing with editors and with submission to journals, speaking about the research at seminars/conferences, etc.

[Fede_V]

In life sciences, the last author is almost always the person whose grants paid for most of the research. Usually, they also helped supervise the research, but the grant aspect is more important.

For example: Mike Synder, a brilliant biologist, 'supervises' 36 postdocs, 13 research assistants, 11 research scientists, 9 visiting scientists, and 8 graduate students (http://snyderlab.stanford.edu/members3.html - thanks to Lior Pacter for noticing it).

In 2014, he had 42 published papers. How much scientific input do you think he had on each one?

[cli]

What are the differences between postdocs, research assistants, research scientists and visiting scientists?

[privong]

> What are the differences between postdocs, research assistants, research scientists and visiting scientists?

These are some working definitions, based on my experiences in astronomy:

Postdocs: researchers with a a PhD who generally have fixed-term contracts. Generally these positions are full-time research, though some may include teaching components.

Research assistants: researchers, typically without PhDs, working in a group/lab. This is frequently a synonym for undergraduate or graduate students, or interns. It can also mean people with technical skills who are working in a group/lab but not working towards a degree.

Research scientists: Non-tenure track reseachers, often with PhDs. Their positions may be fixed-term or indefinite.

Visiting scientists: Researchers whose primary affiliation is with another institute. They may be fixed-term visitors (e.g., faculty on sabbatical at another University) or frequent but non-constant visitors of an institution. Their salary is often paid by their primary institute, unless the host institute has provided funding.

[fapjacks]

If I had another lifetime to live, I would pour my heart and soul into astronomy. Life is too short.

[privong]

> If I had another lifetime to live, I would pour my heart and soul into astronomy. Life is too short.

I know the feeling! Astro is great and I love it. But there's lots of other things I'd love to explore once I figure out galaxies :)

[Lawtonfogle]

>In mathematics, multiple authors are always listed alphabetically by family name; ie there is no "first" or "second" author.

Is there any research showing this standard to be fair? People pay more attention to the first item of a list than to the middle ones, making me think that one's position on such a list could have a small benefit. Less important if there are overall less multiple name papers, which it seems from the rest of your comment, but still a factor as long as multiple names on a paper do happen.

[matheist]

Is there any research showing this standard to be fair?

I don't know of any.

Less important if there are overall less multiple name papers, which it seems from the rest of your comment,

Actually, I think multiple authors is far more common than single authors, though I don't know the numbers to back it up. I was responding to a very specific "what-if" scenario of bouncing ideas off someone else, and describing what would happen in that case.