diff --git a/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/default.xsl b/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/default.xsl
index 3a11d00..5f989c0 100644
--- a/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/default.xsl
+++ b/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/default.xsl
@@ -131,8 +131,8 @@ a:hover {
                     </p>
                     <div class="meta">
 
-                        <xsl:if test="author">
-    By <xsl:value-of select="author"/>
+                        <xsl:if test="managingEditor">
+    By <xsl:value-of select="managingEditor"/>
                         </xsl:if>
 
                         <xsl:if test="pubDate">
@@ -162,8 +162,8 @@ a:hover {
                         </h2>
 
                         <div class="meta">
-                            <xsl:if test="author">
-      Par <xsl:value-of select="author"/>
+                            <xsl:if test="dc:creator">
+      By <xsl:value-of select="dc:creator"/>
                             </xsl:if>
                             <xsl:if test="pubDate">
       —                                <xsl:value-of select="pubDate"/>
diff --git a/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/rss.xml.jinja2 b/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/rss.xml.jinja2
index 5328672..9fd63c5 100644
--- a/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/rss.xml.jinja2
+++ b/mkdocs_rss_plugin/templates/rss.xml.jinja2
@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@
     {% for item in feed.entries %}
     <item>
       <title>{{ item.title|e }}</title>
-      {# Authors loop #}
+      {# Authors loop - use dc:creator for names (RSS <author> requires email) #}
       {% if item.authors is not none %}
         {% for author in item.authors %}
-      <author>{{ author }}</author>
+      <dc:creator>{{ author }}</dc:creator>
         {% endfor %}
       {% endif %}
       {# Categories loop #}
diff --git a/tests/test_dc_creator.py b/tests/test_dc_creator.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6fb358
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_dc_creator.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#! python3  # noqa: E265
+
+"""Test that item authors use <dc:creator> instead of <author>.
+
+RSS 2.0 spec requires <author> to be an email address.
+Human-readable names should use <dc:creator>.
+
+Usage from the repo root folder:
+
+    python -m unittest tests.test_dc_creator
+
+"""
+
+# #############################################################################
+# ########## Libraries #############
+# ##################################
+
+# Standard library
+import logging
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+from traceback import format_exception
+from xml.etree import ElementTree
+
+# test suite
+from tests.base import BaseTest
+
+# -- Globals --
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+
+OUTPUT_RSS_FEED_CREATED = "feed_rss_created.xml"
+
+# #############################################################################
+# ########## Classes ###############
+# ##################################
+
+
+class TestDcCreator(BaseTest):
+    """Test that <dc:creator> is used instead of <author> for item authors."""
+
+    def test_dc_creator_instead_of_author(self):
+        """Verify that item authors use <dc:creator> instead of <author>.
+
+        RSS 2.0 spec requires <author> to be an email address.
+        Human-readable names should use <dc:creator>.
+        """
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdirname:
+            cli_result = self.build_docs_setup(
+                testproject_path="docs",
+                mkdocs_yml_filepath=Path("tests/fixtures/mkdocs_complete.yml"),
+                output_path=tmpdirname,
+                strict=True,
+            )
+
+            if cli_result.exception is not None:
+                e = cli_result.exception
+                logger.debug(format_exception(type(e), e, e.__traceback__))
+
+            self.assertEqual(cli_result.exit_code, 0)
+            self.assertIsNone(cli_result.exception)
+
+            # Parse the raw XML to check element names
+            rss_path = Path(tmpdirname) / OUTPUT_RSS_FEED_CREATED
+            tree = ElementTree.parse(rss_path)
+            root = tree.getroot()
+
+            # RSS namespace
+            ns = {
+                "rss": "http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom",
+                "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/",
+            }
+
+            # Find all item elements
+            items = root.findall(".//item")
+            self.assertGreater(len(items), 0, "Expected at least one item in feed")
+
+            for item in items:
+                # Check that <author> is NOT used for item authors
+                author_elem = item.find("author")
+                self.assertIsNone(
+                    author_elem,
+                    "Found <author> element in item. RSS 2.0 requires <author> to be "
+                    "an email address. Use <dc:creator> for human-readable names.",
+                )
+
+                # Check that <dc:creator> IS used when authors are present
+                # The page_with_meta.md has authors, so at least one item should have dc:creator
+                dc_creators = item.findall("dc:creator", ns)
+                # Items with authors should have dc:creator elements
+                # Items without authors may not have any
+                if item.find("title").text == "Page With Explicit Metadata":
+                    self.assertGreater(
+                        len(dc_creators),
+                        0,
+                        "Expected <dc:creator> elements for item with authors.",
+                    )