diff --git a/app/components/metadata-form/index.js b/app/components/metadata-form/index.js
index 6046c28b..a9293602 100644
--- a/app/components/metadata-form/index.js
+++ b/app/components/metadata-form/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 /* eslint-disable ember/no-classic-components, ember/no-classic-classes, ember/require-tagless-components, ember/no-component-lifecycle-hooks, ember/no-get */
-// import Component from '@ember/component';
 import Component from '@ember/component';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import { get } from '@ember/object';
@@ -41,6 +40,8 @@ export default Component.extend({
       },
     };
 
+    newForm.options.hideInitValidationError = true;
+
     $('#schemaForm').empty();
     $('#schemaForm').alpaca(newForm);
   },
diff --git a/app/services/metadata-schema.js b/app/services/metadata-schema.js
index af32efa7..b1e2b244 100644
--- a/app/services/metadata-schema.js
+++ b/app/services/metadata-schema.js
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ export default class MetadataSchemaService extends Service {
   addDisplayData(schema, data, readonly) {
     if (!schema.data) {
       schema.data = {};
+      schema.data.authors = [{}];
     }
     // Will merge 'data' onto 'schema.data'. 'schema.data' values may be overwritten by values from 'data'
     schema.data = Object.assign(schema.data, data);
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/nih-submission-test.js b/tests/acceptance/nih-submission-test.js
index 29518ae7..87a8fbca 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/nih-submission-test.js
+++ b/tests/acceptance/nih-submission-test.js
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ module('Acceptance | submission', function (hooks) {
     await click('.alpaca-form-button-Next');
 
     await waitFor(document.querySelector('#swal2-content'));
-    assert.dom(document.querySelector('#swal2-content')).includesText("should have required property 'authors'");
+    assert.dom(document.querySelector('#swal2-content')).includesText("should have required property 'author'");
 
     // Some reason, setting the document query to a variable before clicking works,
     // but calling the query selector in the click does not work
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ module('Acceptance | submission', function (hooks) {
     await click('.alpaca-form-button-Next');
 
     await waitFor(document.querySelector('#swal2-content'));
-    assert.dom(document.querySelector('#swal2-content')).includesText("should have required property 'authors'");
+    assert.dom(document.querySelector('#swal2-content')).includesText("should have required property 'author'");
 
     const confirmBtn = document.querySelector('.swal2-confirm');
     assert.ok(confirmBtn, 'No SweetAlert OK button found');
diff --git a/tests/integration/components/workflow-metadata-test.js b/tests/integration/components/workflow-metadata-test.js
index 5f2a65db..eff85a97 100644
--- a/tests/integration/components/workflow-metadata-test.js
+++ b/tests/integration/components/workflow-metadata-test.js
@@ -268,10 +268,7 @@ module('Integration | Component | workflow-metadata', (hooks) => {
       @publication={{this.publication}}
     />
   `);
-
     await waitFor('[data-key="Next"]');
-    await waitFor('[data-key="Back"]');
-    await waitFor('[data-key="Abort"]');
     await click('[data-key="Next"]');
 
     // Need to fill out ISSN field
@@ -279,10 +276,6 @@ module('Integration | Component | workflow-metadata', (hooks) => {
     await fillIn('[name="ISSN"]', '1234');
 
     await click('button[data-key="Next"]');
-    await waitFor('[data-key="Back"]');
-    await waitFor('[data-key="Abort"]');
-    await waitFor('input[name="ISSN"]');
-    await click('[data-key="Next"]');
 
     await waitFor(document.querySelector('.swal2-confirm'));