[gillesjacobs]

> In general, the closer the name is to either end of the author list, the more significant their contributions likely were.

In ML, NLP, and many Humanities too, the supervisor (supervising professor/postdoc, lab head, PI) is put last regardless of contribution. The rest of the author list is ranked in descending order for contribution. Often the last author's contributions are very limited to obtaining funding or proof-reading.

Now this practice is controversial with many venues stating that obtaining funding and only supervising is not a valid reason for authorship, but in my experience this practice doesn't die out.