diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5066dce..0690ed3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 
+## [v1.6.2] - 2021-02-08
+
+**Bug Fixes**
+
+[#20446] Catalogue Publishing Widget: field value unexpectedly added in case of optional field 
+[#20663] Fixing Time_Interval placeholder 
+
+
 ## [v1.6.1] [r4.24.0] - 2020-06-18
 
 **New Features**
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/widgets/ckandatapublisherwidget/client/ui/metadata/MetaDataFieldSkeleton.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/widgets/ckandatapublisherwidget/client/ui/metadata/MetaDataFieldSkeleton.java
index 34932d7..5dd231b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/widgets/ckandatapublisherwidget/client/ui/metadata/MetaDataFieldSkeleton.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/portlets/widgets/ckandatapublisherwidget/client/ui/metadata/MetaDataFieldSkeleton.java
@@ -309,11 +309,12 @@ public class MetaDataFieldSkeleton extends Composite{
 				if(field.isMultiSelection())
 					tempListBox.setTitle(TOOLTIP_MULTISELECTION);
 
-				// if it is not mandatory, add a disabled option
-				if(!field.getMandatory()){
+				// if it is not mandatory and not multi-selection, add a disabled option (placeholder)
+				if(!field.getMandatory() && !field.isMultiSelection()){
 					tempListBox.addItem("Select " + field.getFieldName());
-					tempListBox.setSelectedValue("Select " + field.getFieldName());
+					tempListBox.setValue(0, "");
 					tempListBox.getElement().getElementsByTagName("option").getItem(0).setAttribute("disabled", "disabled");
+					tempListBox.setSelectedValue("Select " + field.getFieldName());
 				}
 
 				// get vocabulary fields
@@ -637,13 +638,20 @@ public class MetaDataFieldSkeleton extends Composite{
 		case Time_Interval:
 
 			manipulatedTemp = rangesList.get(0).getCurrentValue().replaceAll(DataTimeBox.MISSING_RANGE_VALUE_START, "").replaceAll(DataTimeBox.MISSING_RANGE_VALUE_END, UPPER_RANGE_NOT_SPECIFIED);
-			if(toReturn.equals(DataTimeBox.RANGE_SEPARATOR_START_END + UPPER_RANGE_NOT_SPECIFIED))
-				manipulatedTemp = "";
-
+			
+			//fixed by Francesco, see #20663#note-12
+			if(!field.getMandatory()) {
+				if(manipulatedTemp.equals(DataTimeBox.RANGE_SEPARATOR_START_END + UPPER_RANGE_NOT_SPECIFIED))
+					manipulatedTemp = "";
+			}
+			
 			// split to check if the extreme are equals
-			String[] temp = manipulatedTemp.split(DataTimeBox.RANGE_SEPARATOR_START_END);
-			if(temp[0].equals(temp[1]))
-				manipulatedTemp = temp[0];
+			//fixed by Francesco
+			if(!manipulatedTemp.isEmpty()) {
+				String[] temp = manipulatedTemp.split(DataTimeBox.RANGE_SEPARATOR_START_END);
+				if(temp[0].equals(temp[1]))
+					manipulatedTemp = temp[0];
+			}
 
 			toReturn.add(manipulatedTemp);
 			break;
@@ -679,7 +687,7 @@ public class MetaDataFieldSkeleton extends Composite{
 				toReturn.add(((TextBox)holder).getText());
 			else{
 
-				// handle multiselected case
+				// handle single and multi-selected case
 				for(int i = 0; i < ((ListBox)holder).getItemCount(); i++){
 					if(((ListBox)holder).isItemSelected(i)){
 						toReturn.add(((ListBox)holder).getItemText(i));
@@ -687,11 +695,17 @@ public class MetaDataFieldSkeleton extends Composite{
 				}
 
 				// if it was not mandatory but there was no choice, returning empty string
-				if(!field.getMandatory())
-					if(toReturn.equals("Select " + field.getFieldName())){
-						toReturn.clear();
-						toReturn.add("");
+				if(!field.getMandatory()) {
+					//Task #20446 - bug fix. Ignoring the placeholder
+					if(toReturn.size()==1) {
+						String placeholder = "Select " + field.getFieldName();
+						if(toReturn.get(0).equals(placeholder)){
+							GWT.log("Skipping placeholder: "+placeholder);
+							toReturn.clear();
+							//toReturn.add("");
+						}
 					}
+				}
 			}
 
 			break;