diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1147122..82e43fa 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ See [GitHub releases](https://github.com/pyOpenSci/pyosMeta/releases) page for a
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [v1.7.6] - 2025-10-10
+* Bug fix: handle markdown styling in issue template for package submission
+* Feature: allow empty reviewers for in issue template for package submission
+
 ## [v1.7.5] - 2025-09-10
 
 * Bug fix: remove an extra newline character that prevents Jekyll from building pages from RSS feed stubs (@banesullivan, #306)
diff --git a/src/pyosmeta/cli/update_review_teams.py b/src/pyosmeta/cli/update_review_teams.py
index ac65fe4..dac28e7 100644
--- a/src/pyosmeta/cli/update_review_teams.py
+++ b/src/pyosmeta/cli/update_review_teams.py
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ def process_user(
                 f"Error processing new contributor {gh_user}. Skipping this user.",
                 exc_info=True,
             )
+            return user, contribs
 
     # Update user the list of contribution types if there are new types to add
     # for instance a new reviewer would have a "Reviewer" contributor type
diff --git a/src/pyosmeta/models/base.py b/src/pyosmeta/models/base.py
index 374b0e6..64356a4 100644
--- a/src/pyosmeta/models/base.py
+++ b/src/pyosmeta/models/base.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class ReviewModel(BaseModel):
     categories: Optional[list[str]] = None
     editor: ReviewUser | list[ReviewUser] | None = None
     eic: ReviewUser | list[ReviewUser] | None = None
-    reviewers: list[ReviewUser] = Field(default_factory=list)
+    reviewers: list[ReviewUser] | None = None
     archive: str | None = None
     version_accepted: str | None = None
     date_accepted: str | None = Field(
diff --git a/src/pyosmeta/parse_issues.py b/src/pyosmeta/parse_issues.py
index 77f4a9b..5695afd 100644
--- a/src/pyosmeta/parse_issues.py
+++ b/src/pyosmeta/parse_issues.py
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ def _parse_field(self, key: str, val: str) -> Any:
         # add other conditions here for special processing of fields..
         #   pass
         else:
-            return val
+            return val.strip("*").strip("__")  # remove markdown formatting
 
     def parse_issue(self, issue: Issue | str) -> ReviewModel:
         """
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ def parse_issues(
 
     def get_contributor_data(
         self, line: str
-    ) -> Union[ReviewUser, List[ReviewUser]]:
+    ) -> Union[ReviewUser, List[ReviewUser], None]:
         """Parse names for various review roles from issue metadata.
 
         Parameters
@@ -358,6 +358,8 @@ def get_contributor_data(
         users = line.split(",")
         models = [parse_user_names(username=user) for user in users]
         models = [model for model in models if model is not None]
+        if len(models) == 0:
+            return None
         if len(models) == 1:
             models = models[0]
         return models
diff --git a/src/pyosmeta/utils_clean.py b/src/pyosmeta/utils_clean.py
index 2d99769..45b7a19 100644
--- a/src/pyosmeta/utils_clean.py
+++ b/src/pyosmeta/utils_clean.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def clean_date(source_date: str | None) -> datetime | str:
 def clean_name(source_name: str) -> str:
     """Remove unwanted characters from a name."""
 
-    unwanted = ["(", ")", "@"]
+    unwanted = ["(", ")", "@", "*"]
     for char in unwanted:
         source_name = source_name.replace(char, "")
 
diff --git a/src/pyosmeta/utils_parse.py b/src/pyosmeta/utils_parse.py
index b3b0eb5..43d8ee5 100644
--- a/src/pyosmeta/utils_parse.py
+++ b/src/pyosmeta/utils_parse.py
@@ -45,5 +45,6 @@ def parse_user_names(username: str) -> ReviewUser | None:
             "github_username": clean_name(names[0]),
             "name": "",
         }
-
+    if (parsed["github_username"] == "") and (parsed["name"] == ""):
+        return None
     return ReviewUser(**parsed)