diff --git a/scripts/auto-add-from-zenodo-communities.py b/scripts/auto-add-from-zenodo-communities.py
index 19f17554..bc105678 100644
--- a/scripts/auto-add-from-zenodo-communities.py
+++ b/scripts/auto-add-from-zenodo-communities.py
@@ -50,10 +50,13 @@ def main():
         response = requests.get('https://zenodo.org/api/records',
                                 params={'communities': community,
                                         'access_token': token})
-        online_data = response.json()
-        hits = online_data["hits"]["hits"]
-        urls = [u["links"]["self_html"] for u in hits]
-
+        try:
+            online_data = response.json()
+            hits = online_data["hits"]["hits"]
+            urls = [u["links"]["self_html"] for u in hits]
+        except requests.exceptions.JSONDecodeError:
+            print(f"Error decoding JSON for community: {community}")
+            continue
 
         # compare which new is not in old
 
@@ -100,6 +103,5 @@ def main():
     
 
 
-
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()
diff --git a/scripts/generate_link_lists.py b/scripts/generate_link_lists.py
index 16db10d9..69586dd3 100644
--- a/scripts/generate_link_lists.py
+++ b/scripts/generate_link_lists.py
@@ -321,7 +321,11 @@ def read_zenodo(record):
     
     # Download the file
     response = requests.get(url)
-    data = response.json()
+    try:
+        data = response.json()
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        data = {}
+
     return data