diff --git a/swh/loader/npm/tests/test_utils.py b/swh/loader/npm/tests/test_utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/npm/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/npm/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -266,3 +266,54 @@
                 'email': None
             }
         )
+
+        package_json = json.loads('''
+        {
+            "name": "yfe-ynpm",
+            "version": "1.0.0",
+            "homepage": "http://gitlab.ywwl.com/yfe/yfe-ynpm",
+            "repository": {
+                "type": "git",
+                "url": "git@gitlab.ywwl.com:yfe/yfe-ynpm.git"
+            },
+            "author": [
+                "fengmk2 <fengmk2@gmail.com> (https://fengmk2.com)",
+                "xufuzi <xufuzi@ywwl.com> (https://7993.org)"
+            ],
+            "license": "MIT"
+        }''')
+
+        self.assertEqual(
+            extract_npm_package_author(package_json),
+            {
+                'fullname': b'fengmk2 <fengmk2@gmail.com>',
+                'name': b'fengmk2',
+                'email': b'fengmk2@gmail.com'
+            }
+        )
+
+        package_json = json.loads('''
+        {
+            "name": "umi-plugin-whale",
+            "version": "0.0.8",
+            "description": "Internal contract component",
+            "authors": {
+                "name": "xiaohuoni",
+                "email": "448627663@qq.com"
+            },
+            "repository": "alitajs/whale",
+            "devDependencies": {
+                "np": "^3.0.4",
+                "umi-tools": "*"
+            },
+            "license": "MIT"
+        }''')
+
+        self.assertEqual(
+            extract_npm_package_author(package_json),
+            {
+                'fullname': b'xiaohuoni <448627663@qq.com>',
+                'name': b'xiaohuoni',
+                'email': b'448627663@qq.com'
+            }
+        )
diff --git a/swh/loader/npm/utils.py b/swh/loader/npm/utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/npm/utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/npm/utils.py
@@ -86,16 +86,16 @@
             if 'email' in author_data:
                 author_str += ' <%s>' % author_data['email']
             return author_str
+        elif type(author_data) is list:
+            return _author_str(author_data[0]) if len(author_data) > 0 else ''
         else:
             return author_data
 
     author_data = {}
-    if 'author' in package_json:
-        author_str = _author_str(package_json['author'])
-        author_data = parse_npm_package_author(author_str)
-    elif 'authors' in package_json and len(package_json['authors']) > 0:
-        author_str = _author_str(package_json['authors'][0])
-        author_data = parse_npm_package_author(author_str)
+    for author_key in ('author', 'authors'):
+        if author_key in package_json:
+            author_str = _author_str(package_json[author_key])
+            author_data = parse_npm_package_author(author_str)
 
     name = author_data.get('name')
     email = author_data.get('email')