diff --git a/01_EJDE_spider/ejde_main.py b/01_EJDE_spider/ejde_main.py
index 9fd79ce..1876b22 100644
--- a/01_EJDE_spider/ejde_main.py
+++ b/01_EJDE_spider/ejde_main.py
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ def process_article(title, article_url):
                         "from_article": article_id,
                         "firstname": name[0],
                         "lastname": name[-1],
-                        "middlename": name[1:len(name) - 1] if len(name) > 2 else None,
+                        "middlename": [elem.strip() for elem in name[1:len(name) - 1] if len(elem.strip()) > 0] if len(name) > 2 else None,
                         "affiliation": [{
                             "year": volume,
                             "affiliation": affiliation,
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ def process_article(title, article_url):
                         "from_article": article_id,
                         "firstname": name[0],
                         "lastname": name[-1],
-                        "middlename": name[1:len(name) - 1] if len(name) > 2 else None,
+                        "middlename": [elem.strip() for elem in name[1:len(name) - 1] if len(elem.strip()) > 0] if len(name) > 2 else None,
                         "affiliation": [{
                             "year": volume,
                             "affiliation": affiliation,