def get_file_metadata(root):
    """Read and parse ReSpecTh XML file metadata (file author, version, etc.)

    Args:
        root (`~xml.etree.ElementTree.Element`): Root of ReSpecTh XML file

    Returns:
        properties (`dict`): Dictionary with file metadata
    """
    properties = {}

    file_author = getattr(root.find('fileAuthor'), 'text', False)
    # Test for missing attribute or empty string in the same statement
    if not file_author:
        raise MissingElementError('fileAuthor')
    else:
        properties['file-authors'] = [{'name': file_author}]

    # Default version is 0 for the ChemKED file
    properties['file-version'] = 0

    # Default ChemKED version
    properties['chemked-version'] = __version__

    return properties