def __create_author_investigator_str(self):
        """
        When investigators is empty, try to get authors from the first publication instead.
        :return str author: Author names
        """
        _author = ""
        try:
            for pub in self.noaa_data_sorted["Publication"]:
                if "author" in pub:
                    if pub["author"]:
                        _author_src = pub["author"]
                        if isinstance(_author_src, str):
                            try:
                                if " and " in _author_src:
                                    _author = _author_src.replace(" and ", "; ")
                                elif ";" in _author_src:
                                    # If there is a semi-colon, add a space after it, just in case it didn't have one
                                    _author = _author_src.replace(";", "; ")
                                break
                            except Exception as e:
                                _author = ""
                        elif isinstance(_author_src, list):
                            try:
                                for _entry in _author_src:
                                    _author += _entry["name"].split(",")[0] + ", "
                            except Exception as e:
                                _author = ""
        except Exception:
            _author = ""
        return _author
When investigators is empty, try to get authors from the first publication instead.
        :return str author: Author names