diff --git a/module_citeq.lua b/module_citeq.lua
index 66c7367..5ae2ae6 100644
--- a/module_citeq.lua
+++ b/module_citeq.lua
@@ -114,21 +114,23 @@ local function getStyledNames(names, style)
 	end
 end
 
--- Concatenate up to the first four names, and the year, into a CITEREF and return it
+-- Concatenate up to the first four names (at least one name required), and the year (optional), into a CITEREF and return it; return nil else
 local function make_citeref(names, year)
 	local refs = {}
 	for i, v in ipairs(names) do
-		local name = v.last or v.label or ''
-		refs[i] = mw.text.trim(name)
-		if i == 4 then break end
+		local name = v.last or v.label;
+		if not name then break end;												-- no v.last or v.label? abandon the ipairs() loop
+		refs[i] = mw.text.trim (name);
+		if i == 4 then break end												-- collect only four names
 	end
-	table.insert(refs, year)
-	local id = table.concat(refs) or ''
-	if id == '' then
-		return ''
-	else
-		return "CITEREF" .. id
+
+	if 0 < #refs then															-- don't add <year> when there are no names in <refs>; CITEREFYYYY is more-or-less meaningless
+		table.insert (refs, year);												-- add <year>
+		table.insert (refs, 1, 'CITEREF');										-- and insert the 'CITEREF' prefix
+		return table.concat (refs);												-- concatenate and done
 	end
+
+	return;																		-- no names so return nil
 end
 
 -- function to fetch a value to display
@@ -913,13 +915,13 @@ local function _cite_q (citeq_args)
 		local refnames
 		if #names.authors > 0 then
 			refnames = names.authors
-		else
+		elseif #names.editors > 0 then
 			refnames = names.editors
 		end
-		local citeref = make_citeref(refnames, pubyear)
-		if citeq_args.ref == citeref then
-			citeq_args.ref = nil  -- avoid CS1 maint: ref duplicates default
-		else
+		local citeref = refnames and make_citeref (refnames, pubyear) or nil;	-- <refnames> nil when no authors and no editors
+		if citeq_args.ref == citeref then										-- CITEREF from wikidata authors / editors matches the value provided in |ref=
+			citeq_args.ref = nil 												-- unset to avoid CS1 maint: ref duplicates default maintenance message / category
+		elseif citeref then														-- CITEREF from wikidata authors / editors is different from the value provided in |ref=
 			tableset_add(opt_cat, cfg.i18n_t.trackingcats['supplied-ref'])
 			local tpara = frame:expandTemplate{ title = 'para', args = {'ref', citeq_args.ref} }
 			-- TODO: format and i18n this string
@@ -1009,9 +1011,13 @@ local function _cite_q (citeq_args)
 		end
 		retract = ' ' .. frame:expandTemplate{ title = "Retracted", args = retr_params }
 	end
-	-- remove non-CS1 retraction properties
-	citeq_args.retracted_by = nil
+
+	citeq_args.retracted_by = nil												-- remove non-CS1 parameters
 	citeq_args['retracted-intentional'] = nil
+	citeq_args['instance-of'] = nil
+	if citeq_args['name-list-style'] and citeq_args['name-list-style'] == 'apa' then
+		citeq_args['name-list-style'] = nil
+	end
 
 	-- clean up any blank parameters
 	for k, v in pairs(citeq_args) do
@@ -1103,12 +1109,6 @@ local function _cite_q (citeq_args)
 	-- Disable CiteSeerX IDs for now
 	citeq_args.citeseerx = nil
 
-	-- remove any remaining non-CS1 fields
-	citeq_args['instance-of'] = nil
-	if citeq_args['name-list-style'] and citeq_args['name-list-style'] == 'apa' then
-		citeq_args['name-list-style'] = nil
-	end
-
 	-- render the template
 	local lc_template = template and template:lower() or "citation"
 	local output