Author

The following metadata fields can be extracted from a AUTHORS file.
These fields are defined in the Authors file specification, and are mapped according to the CodeMeta crosswalk for AUTHORS files.

Software metadata category	SOMEF metadata JSON path	AUTHORS metadata file field
authors - value	authors[i].result.value	(1) value
authors - name	authors[i].result.name	(2) name
authors - email	authors[i].result.email	(3) email
authors - given name	authors[i].result.given_name	(4) if type person
authors - last name	authors[i].result.last_name	(5) if type person

---

(1)
- Regex: line.strip() - Example: Jane Doe <jane.doe@example.org> - Result: Jane Doe <jane.doe@example.org>

(2)
- line[:email_match.start()].strip() - Example: Jane Doe <jane.doe@example.org> - Result: Jane Doe

(3)
- Regex: re.search(r'<([^>]+)>', line) - Example: Jane Doe <jane.doe@example.org> - Result: jane.doe@example.org

(4)
- First part of name - Example: Jane Doe <jane.doe@example.org> - Result: Jane

(5)
- Second part of name - Example: Jane Doe <jane.doe@example.org> - Result: Doe

Supported files of authors.

The following filenames are recognized and processed automatically:

• AUTHORS
• AUTHORS.md
• AUTHORS.txt

These files are expected to be located at the root of the repository. Filenames are matched case-insensitively.

Purpose and Format

These files typically contain a list of individuals and/or organizations that have contributed to the project. While there is no universal standard for formatting, a widely referenced convention is Google's guidance:

🔗 Google Open Source: Authors Files Protocol

The content may be structured as:

• Simple plain text, with one contributor per line.
• Markdown-formatted text (.md files).
• Lines including contributor names, emails (e.g., Name <email>), and sometimes affiliations.

Examples of Valid Entries

Jane Doe <jane@example.com>
John Smith
Acme Corporation <acme@mail.com>
Google Inc.

Examples of NON Valid Entries

JetBrains <>
Microsoft
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung
scrawl - Top contributor
Tom

What Is Read vs. Discarded

When processing these files, the parser will:

Include lines that:

• Contain person names, optionally with emails (Name <email>).
• Clearly refer to organizations (e.g., "Google LLC", "OpenAI Inc.").

Discard lines that:

• Are headers, decorative separators, or markdown formatting (#, *, =, etc.).
• Contain only URLs or links.
• Are single words with no email and no organizational keyword (e.g., JetBrains <>).
• Are markdown or structured noise (---, {}, etc.).
• Contain more than four words and are not recognized as organizations — to avoid capturing generic or descriptive sentences (e.g., This line not is an author).

Special Cases

• Entries with only a first name and an email are accepted but must not assign an empty last_name.
• Lines starting with - or * are considered lists, but only parsed if the content matches expected author patterns.
• Blocks enclosed in {} are stripped before parsing.
• Any line matching known organization suffixes (Inc., LLC, Ltd., Corporation) is treated as an organization, even if no email is present.
• Some organization names (e.g., Open Source Initiative) may be mistakenly treated as person names if they do not contain a company designator or email. To improve detection, it is recommended to use names like Open Source Initiative Inc.
• In such cases, only the meaningful part (typically the name) is extracted before any descriptive annotations. For example, the line: Tom Smith (Tom) - Project leader 2010-2018 Will be interpreted as: { "type": "Person", "name": "Tom Smith", "value": "Tom Smith", "given_name": "Tom", "last_name": "Smith" }