Editing Alphabetical order (section)

====Ordering by surname====
In most cultures where [[family name]]s are written after [[given name]]s, it is still desired to sort lists of names (as in telephone directories) by family name first. In this case, names need to be reordered to be sorted correctly. For example, Juan Hernandes and Brian O'Leary should be sorted as "Hernandes, Juan" and "O'Leary, Brian" even if they are not written this way. Capturing this rule in a computer collation algorithm is complex, and simple attempts will fail. For example, unless the algorithm has at its disposal an extensive list of family names, there is no way to decide if "Gillian Lucille van der Waal" is "van der Waal, Gillian Lucille", "Waal, Gillian Lucille van der", or even "Lucille van der Waal, Gillian".

Ordering by surname is frequently encountered in academic contexts. Within a single multi-author paper, ordering the authors alphabetically by surname, rather than by other methods such as reverse seniority or subjective degree of contribution to the paper, is seen as a way of "acknowledg[ing] similar contributions" or "avoid[ing] disharmony in collaborating groups".<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Teja|last1=Tscharntke|first2=Michael E|last2=Hochberg|first3=Tatyana A|last3=Rand|first4=Vincent H|last4=Resh|first5=Jochen|last5=Krauss|title=Author Sequence and Credit for Contributions in Multiauthored Publications|journal=PLOS Biol.|date=January 2007|volume=5|issue=1|pages=e18|pmid=17227141|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050018|pmc=1769438 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The practice in certain fields of ordering [[citation]]s in bibliographies by the surnames of their authors has been found to create bias in favour of authors with surnames which appear earlier in the alphabet, while this effect does not appear in fields in which bibliographies are ordered chronologically.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://decisionslab.unl.edu/pubs/stevens_duque_2018_SM.pdf|first1=Jeffrey R.|last1=Stevens|first2=Juan F.|last2=Duque|title=Order Matters: Alphabetizing In-Text Citations Biases Citation Rates|journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review|year=2018|volume=26|issue=3|pages=1020–1026|doi=10.3758/s13423-018-1532-8|doi-access=free|pmid=30288671|s2cid=52922399|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=10 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110080311/https://decisionslab.unl.edu/pubs/stevens_duque_2018_SM.pdf|url-status=live}}
*{{lay source |author=Colleen Flaherty |title=The Case Against Alphabetical Naming of Authors |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/10/22/study-takes-aim-psychologys-practice-ordering-reference-lists-alphabetically|website=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |date=22 October 2018}}</ref>