diff --git a/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/management/commands/migrate_dataset_authors.py b/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/management/commands/migrate_dataset_authors.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b988b63d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/management/commands/migrate_dataset_authors.py
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+"""Convert dataset authors from old string format to new object format.
+
+Old format: ["Author One", "Author Two"]                    (list of strings)
+New format: [{"name": "Author One", "orcid_id": ""}, ...]   (list of dicts)
+
+This is a one-time data fix for datasets that were created or versioned
+before the model-level auto-normalization was added to Dataset.save().
+"""
+
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from loguru import logger
+
+from sds_gateway.api_methods.models import Dataset
+
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    help = (
+        "Convert dataset authors from old string format ['Name'] "
+        "to new object format [{'name': 'Name', 'orcid_id': ''}]"
+    )
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--dry-run",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="Only count affected datasets without modifying them",
+        )
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--uuid",
+            type=str,
+            help="Migrate only a specific dataset by UUID",
+        )
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        dry_run = options["dry_run"]
+        specific_uuid = options.get("uuid")
+
+        # Query datasets with non-empty authors
+        queryset = Dataset.objects.filter(authors__isnull=False).exclude(authors="")
+        if specific_uuid:
+            queryset = queryset.filter(uuid=specific_uuid)
+
+        total = queryset.count()
+        updated = 0
+        skipped = 0
+        errors = 0
+
+        self.stdout.write(f"Scanning {total} dataset(s) with authors...")
+
+        for dataset in queryset:
+            try:
+                # from_db already deserialized authors from JSON string to Python object
+                authors = dataset.authors
+
+                # Skip if not a list
+                if not isinstance(authors, list):
+                    skipped += 1
+                    continue
+
+                # Skip empty lists
+                if not authors:
+                    skipped += 1
+                    continue
+
+                # Skip if already in new format (list of dicts with 'name' key)
+                if isinstance(authors[0], dict):
+                    skipped += 1
+                    continue
+
+                # Convert old format: list of strings → list of dicts
+                if isinstance(authors[0], str):
+                    new_authors = [
+                        {"name": author, "orcid_id": ""}
+                        for author in authors
+                        if isinstance(author, str)
+                    ]
+
+                    if not new_authors:
+                        logger.warning(
+                            f"Dataset {dataset.uuid}: no valid author strings found, "
+                            "skipping",
+                        )
+                        skipped += 1
+                        continue
+
+                    if dry_run:
+                        logger.info(
+                            f"[DRY-RUN] Would convert dataset {dataset.uuid}: "
+                            f"{len(authors)} author(s) in old format"
+                        )
+                    else:
+                        dataset.authors = new_authors
+                        dataset.save(update_fields=["authors"])
+                        logger.info(
+                            f"Converted dataset {dataset.uuid}: "
+                            f"{len(authors)} author(s) → new format"
+                        )
+                    updated += 1
+                else:
+                    # Unexpected format
+                    logger.warning(
+                        f"Dataset {dataset.uuid}: unexpected author type "
+                        f"{type(authors[0]).__name__}, skipping"
+                    )
+                    skipped += 1
+
+            except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001  # intentional: continue processing remaining datasets
+                logger.error(f"Error processing dataset {dataset.uuid}: {e}")
+                errors += 1
+
+        self.stdout.write(
+            f"Done: {updated} updated, {skipped} skipped, {errors} errors"
+            + (" (dry run)" if dry_run else "")
+        )
diff --git a/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/models.py b/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/models.py
index 8c56b3c87..5bf57c82f 100644
--- a/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/models.py
+++ b/gateway/sds_gateway/api_methods/models.py
@@ -990,6 +990,28 @@ def save(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
             field_value = getattr(self, field)
             if field_value:
                 if isinstance(field_value, list):
+                    # --- Authors format normalization ---
+                    # Prevent "authors still in old string format" warning by
+                    # auto-converting old-style list-of-strings to list-of-dicts
+                    # on save. Catches all write paths (form, versioning, API,
+                    # direct ORM create) so old format cannot persist even when
+                    # entering through code paths that bypass form validation
+                    # (e.g. dataset versioning which copies raw field values
+                    # via getattr + Dataset.objects.create).
+                    #
+                    # Old format: ["Author One", "Author Two"]
+                    # New format: [{"name": "Author One", "orcid_id": ""}, ...]
+                    if (
+                        field == "authors"
+                        and field_value
+                        and isinstance(field_value[0], str)
+                    ):
+                        field_value = [
+                            {"name": author, "orcid_id": ""}
+                            for author in field_value
+                            if isinstance(author, str)
+                        ]
+                    # --- End authors format normalization ---
                     setattr(self, field, json.dumps(field_value))
                 elif isinstance(field_value, str):
                     # If it's already a string, it might be JSON - try to parse it