diff --git a/scipost_django/journals/forms.py b/scipost_django/journals/forms.py
index 5d5f3fa1e4e87c77bd3762069157ca43ba253b68..5073e16351ca0a66fe12e3f423240a7f8f5a76d8 100644
--- a/scipost_django/journals/forms.py
+++ b/scipost_django/journals/forms.py
@@ -222,7 +222,8 @@ class AbstractJATSForm(forms.ModelForm):
             {
                 "placeholder": "Paste the JATS abstract here (use pandoc to generate; see docs)"
             }
-        )
+        ),
+        required = False,        
     )
 
     class Meta: