diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cf92d0d29..56f65088f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 - Parameters schema validation: allow oneOf, anyOf and allOf with `required` ([#3386](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3386))
 - Run pre-comit when rendering template for pipelines sync ([#3371](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3371))
+- Remove requirement to have authors defined ([#3393](https://github.com/nf-core/tools/pull/3393))
 
 ### Version updates
 
diff --git a/nf_core/pipelines/sync.py b/nf_core/pipelines/sync.py
index 781b4f5f0..2a6f8e8bf 100644
--- a/nf_core/pipelines/sync.py
+++ b/nf_core/pipelines/sync.py
@@ -81,7 +81,11 @@ def __init__(
         self.made_changes = False
         self.make_pr = make_pr
         self.gh_pr_returned_data: Dict = {}
-        self.required_config_vars = ["manifest.name", "manifest.description", "manifest.version", "manifest.author"]
+        self.required_config_vars = [
+            "manifest.name",
+            "manifest.description",
+            "manifest.version",
+        ]
         self.force_pr = force_pr
 
         self.gh_username = gh_username
@@ -292,11 +296,10 @@ def make_template_pipeline(self):
                 # Update nf-core version
                 self.config_yml.nf_core_version = nf_core.__version__
                 dump_yaml_with_prettier(self.config_yml_path, self.config_yml.model_dump(exclude_none=True))
-
-        except Exception as err:
+        except Exception as e:
             # Reset to where you were to prevent git getting messed up.
             self.repo.git.reset("--hard")
-            raise SyncExceptionError(f"Failed to rebuild pipeline from template with error:\n{err}")
+            raise SyncExceptionError(f"Failed to rebuild pipeline from template with error:\n{e}")
 
     def commit_template_changes(self):
         """If we have any changes with the new template files, make a git commit"""
diff --git a/nf_core/utils.py b/nf_core/utils.py
index e2b61329c..fb352a124 100644
--- a/nf_core/utils.py
+++ b/nf_core/utils.py
@@ -20,7 +20,18 @@
 import time
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Dict, Generator, List, Literal, Optional, Tuple, Union
+from typing import (
+    TYPE_CHECKING,
+    Any,
+    Callable,
+    Dict,
+    Generator,
+    List,
+    Literal,
+    Optional,
+    Tuple,
+    Union,
+)
 
 import git
 import prompt_toolkit.styles
@@ -89,7 +100,10 @@
     os.environ.get("XDG_CACHE_HOME", Path(os.getenv("HOME") or "", ".cache")),
     "nfcore",
 )
-NFCORE_DIR = Path(os.environ.get("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", os.path.join(os.getenv("HOME") or "", ".config")), "nfcore")
+NFCORE_DIR = Path(
+    os.environ.get("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", os.path.join(os.getenv("HOME") or "", ".config")),
+    "nfcore",
+)
 
 
 def fetch_remote_version(source_url):
@@ -942,7 +956,9 @@ def prompt_remote_pipeline_name(wfs):
 
 
 def prompt_pipeline_release_branch(
-    wf_releases: List[Dict[str, Any]], wf_branches: Dict[str, Any], multiple: bool = False
+    wf_releases: List[Dict[str, Any]],
+    wf_branches: Dict[str, Any],
+    multiple: bool = False,
 ) -> Tuple[Any, List[str]]:
     """Prompt for pipeline release / branch
 
@@ -1332,8 +1348,10 @@ def load_tools_config(directory: Union[str, Path] = ".") -> Tuple[Optional[Path]
             contributors = wf_config["manifest.contributors"]
             names = re.findall(r"name:'([^']+)'", contributors)
             author_names = ", ".join(names)
-        else:
+        elif "manifest.author" in wf_config:
             author_names = wf_config["manifest.author"].strip("'\"")
+        else:
+            author_names = ""
         if nf_core_yaml_config.template is None:
             # The .nf-core.yml file did not contain template information
             nf_core_yaml_config.template = NFCoreTemplateConfig(