  We accomplish for the first time the next-to-leading-order QCD computations
of the leading-twist contributions to the Dirac form factors of both the proton
and the neutron by applying the hard-collinear factorization theorem
rigorously. The resulting predictions for these baryon form factors indicate
that the one-loop perturbative corrections to the hard-gluon-exchange
contributions are numerically substantial for a wide range of momentum
transfers accessible in the current and forthcoming collider experiments.
Including further the (formally) power-suppressed soft contributions due to the
celebrated Feynman mechanism, we then perform the state-of-the-art analysis of
the Dirac electromagnetic nucleon form factors from first field-theoretical
principles, thus allowing for the most robust determinations of the nucleon
distribution amplitudes from the direct comparison with the experimental
measurements.
