diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/engine/command/impl/FinalizeDatasetPublicationCommand.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/engine/command/impl/FinalizeDatasetPublicationCommand.java
index d4bc6b83613..1ef68ae4853 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/engine/command/impl/FinalizeDatasetPublicationCommand.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/engine/command/impl/FinalizeDatasetPublicationCommand.java
@@ -334,12 +334,16 @@ private void updateParentDataversesSubjectsField(Dataset savedDataset, CommandCo
                 while (dv != null) {
                     boolean newSubjectsAdded = false;
                     for (ControlledVocabularyValue cvv : dsf.getControlledVocabularyValues()) {                   
-                        if (!dv.getDataverseSubjects().contains(cvv)) {
-                            logger.fine("dv "+dv.getAlias()+" does not have subject "+cvv.getStrValue());
-                            newSubjectsAdded = true;
-                            dv.getDataverseSubjects().add(cvv);
+                        if (!cvv.getStrValue().equals(DatasetField.NA_VALUE)) {
+                            if (!dv.getDataverseSubjects().contains(cvv)) {
+                                logger.fine("dv "+dv.getAlias()+" does not have subject "+cvv.getStrValue());
+                                newSubjectsAdded = true;
+                                dv.getDataverseSubjects().add(cvv);
+                            } else {
+                                logger.fine("dv "+dv.getAlias()+" already has subject "+cvv.getStrValue());
+                            }
                         } else {
-                            logger.fine("dv "+dv.getAlias()+" already has subject "+cvv.getStrValue());
+                            logger.fine("Subject is not recognized : " + cvv.getStrValue());
                         }
                     }
                     if (newSubjectsAdded) {
diff --git a/src/main/resources/db/migration/V6.7.1.2.sql b/src/main/resources/db/migration/V6.7.1.2.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3ef3c6483e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/db/migration/V6.7.1.2.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+-- remove dataversesubjects entries with a controlledvocabularyvalue_id matching "N/A"
+DELETE FROM dataversesubjects WHERE controlledvocabularyvalue_id = 1 ;
\ No newline at end of file