diff --git a/src/controllers/krate/publish.rs b/src/controllers/krate/publish.rs
index 1257faa2728..80a5506ea86 100644
--- a/src/controllers/krate/publish.rs
+++ b/src/controllers/krate/publish.rs
@@ -265,9 +265,6 @@ fn parse_new_headers(req: &mut dyn RequestExt) -> AppResult<EncodableCrateUpload
     if empty(new.license.as_ref()) && empty(new.license_file.as_ref()) {
         missing.push("license");
     }
-    if new.authors.iter().all(String::is_empty) {
-        missing.push("authors");
-    }
     if !missing.is_empty() {
         let message = missing_metadata_error_message(&missing);
         return Err(cargo_err(&message));
diff --git a/src/tests/krate/publish.rs b/src/tests/krate/publish.rs
index b20447bdef3..d3cfa8fb3ed 100644
--- a/src/tests/krate/publish.rs
+++ b/src/tests/krate/publish.rs
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ fn ignored_badges() {
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn author_license_and_description_required() {
+fn license_and_description_required() {
     let (_, _, _, token) = TestApp::init().with_token();
 
     let crate_to_publish = PublishBuilder::new("foo_metadata")
@@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ fn author_license_and_description_required() {
     assert_eq!(response.status(), StatusCode::OK);
     assert_eq!(
         response.json(),
-        json!({ "errors": [{ "detail": missing_metadata_error_message(&["description", "license", "authors"]) }] })
+        json!({ "errors": [{ "detail": missing_metadata_error_message(&["description", "license"]) }] })
     );
 
     let crate_to_publish = PublishBuilder::new("foo_metadata")
@@ -844,7 +844,7 @@ fn author_license_and_description_required() {
     assert_eq!(response.status(), StatusCode::OK);
     assert_eq!(
         response.json(),
-        json!({ "errors": [{ "detail": missing_metadata_error_message(&["description", "authors"]) }] })
+        json!({ "errors": [{ "detail": missing_metadata_error_message(&["description"]) }] })
     );
 
     let crate_to_publish = PublishBuilder::new("foo_metadata")