diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 6d39894a4..8e4b773e7 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # pkgdown (development version)
 
+* `build_home()` now includes the contents of `inst/AUTHORS` on the authors page (#2506).
 * If you put a dropdown menu (e.g. articles) on the right hand side of the navbar, it will now be right aligned. This makes longer titles more likely to stay on the page (#2421).
 * The title for the "Reference" page is now "Package index" since this page might contain more than just function details (#2181).
 * `build_redirects()` now automatically adds redirects for topic 
diff --git a/R/build-home-authors.R b/R/build-home-authors.R
index 87fef29a7..8405573c1 100644
--- a/R/build-home-authors.R
+++ b/R/build-home-authors.R
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@ data_authors <- function(pkg = ".", roles = default_roles()) {
   pkg <- as_pkgdown(pkg)
   author_info <- pkg$meta$authors %||% list()
 
+  inst_path <- path(pkg$src_path, "inst", "AUTHORS")
+  if (file_exists(inst_path)) {
+    inst <- read_lines(inst_path)
+  } else {
+    inst <- NULL
+  }
+
   all <- pkg %>%
     pkg_authors() %>%
     purrr::map(author_list, author_info, pkg = pkg)
@@ -22,7 +29,8 @@ data_authors <- function(pkg = ".", roles = default_roles()) {
   print_yaml(list(
     all = all,
     main = main,
-    needs_page = more_authors || comments
+    inst = inst,
+    needs_page = more_authors || comments || !is.null(inst)
   ))
 }
 
@@ -72,18 +80,6 @@ data_home_sidebar_authors <- function(pkg = ".") {
   sidebar_section(tr_("Developers"), bullets)
 }
 
-data_authors_page <- function(pkg) {
-  data <- list(
-    pagetitle = tr_("Authors"),
-    authors = data_authors(pkg)$all
-  )
-
-  data$before <- markdown_text_block(pkg$meta$authors$before)
-  data$after <- markdown_text_block(pkg$meta$authors$after)
-
-  return(data)
-}
-
 author_name <- function(x, authors, pkg) {
   name <- format_author_name(x$given, x$family)
 
diff --git a/R/build-home-citation.R b/R/build-home-citation.R
index e2200bf97..9c35a8ede 100644
--- a/R/build-home-citation.R
+++ b/R/build-home-citation.R
@@ -89,11 +89,12 @@ build_citation_authors <- function(pkg = ".") {
     repo_source(pkg, "DESCRIPTION")
   }
 
+  authors <- data_authors(pkg)
   data <- list(
     pagetitle = tr_("Authors and Citation"),
-    citationtitle = tr_("Citation"),
     citations = data_citations(pkg),
-    authors = unname(data_authors(pkg)$all),
+    authors = unname(authors$all),
+    inst = authors$inst,
     source = source
   )
 
diff --git a/R/render.R b/R/render.R
index 00c32b6de..9ec9c95e4 100644
--- a/R/render.R
+++ b/R/render.R
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ data_template <- function(pkg = ".", depth = 0L) {
     authors = tr_("Authors"),
     version = tr_("Version"),
     examples = tr_("Examples"),
-    citation = tr_("Citation")
+    citation = tr_("Citation"),
+    author_details = tr_("Additional details")
   )
 
   # Components that mostly end up in the <head>
diff --git a/inst/BS3/templates/content-citation-authors.html b/inst/BS3/templates/content-citation-authors.html
index d71945a8b..5a40700e1 100644
--- a/inst/BS3/templates/content-citation-authors.html
+++ b/inst/BS3/templates/content-citation-authors.html
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ <h1>{{pagetitle}}</h1>
     </div>
     <div class="section level2 citation-section">
     <div>
-      <h1 id="citation">{{citationtitle}}</h1>
+      <h1 id="citation">{{#translate}}{{citation}}{{/translate}}</h1>
       {{#source}}<small class="dont-index">{{{.}}}</small>{{/source}}
     </div>
     </div>
diff --git a/inst/BS5/templates/content-citation-authors.html b/inst/BS5/templates/content-citation-authors.html
index 97184c64e..805d86924 100644
--- a/inst/BS5/templates/content-citation-authors.html
+++ b/inst/BS5/templates/content-citation-authors.html
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
       <h1>{{{pagetitle}}}</h1>
     </div>
 
-    <div class="section level2 citation">
+    <div class="section level2">
       <h2>{{#translate}}{{authors}}{{/translate}}</h2>
       {{{before}}}
       <ul class="list-unstyled">
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ <h2>{{#translate}}{{authors}}{{/translate}}</h2>
       {{{after}}}
     </div>
 
-    <div class="section level2 citation">
+    <div class="section level2">
       <h2 id="citation">{{#translate}}{{citation}}{{/translate}}</h2>
       <p>{{#source}}<small class="dont-index">{{{.}}}</small>{{/source}}</p>
 
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@ <h2 id="citation">{{#translate}}{{citation}}{{/translate}}</h2>
       <pre>{{{bibtex}}}</pre>
       {{/citations}}
     </div>
+
+    {{#inst}}
+    <div class="section level2">
+      <h2>{{#translate}}{{author_details}}{{/translate}}</h2>
+      <pre>{{.}}</pre>
+    </div>
+    {{/inst}}
   </main>
 
   <aside class="col-md-3">
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/render.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/render.md
index f929222ee..40168412c 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/render.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/render.md
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
       version: Version
       examples: Examples
       citation: Citation
+      author_details: Additional details
     has_favicons: no
     opengraph: []
     extra:
diff --git a/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/DESCRIPTION b/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/DESCRIPTION
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..463a331d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/DESCRIPTION
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Package: testpackage
+Version: 1.0.0
+Title: A test package
+Description: A test package
+Authors@R: c(
+    person("Hadley", "Wickham", , "hadley@rstudio.com", role = c("aut", "cre")),
+    person("RStudio", role = c("cph", "fnd"))
+    )
diff --git a/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/_pkgdown.yml b/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/_pkgdown.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ec0a74054
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/_pkgdown.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+template:
+  bootstrap: 5
diff --git a/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/inst/AUTHORS b/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/inst/AUTHORS
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5ab2f8a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/assets/inst-authors/inst/AUTHORS
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Hello
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-build-footer.R b/tests/testthat/test-build-footer.R
index 9111bdc4a..5c0e2fe4f 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-build-footer.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-build-footer.R
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 test_that("works by default", {
   pkg <- structure(
     list(
-      desc = desc::desc(text = "Authors@R: person('First', 'Last', role = 'cre')")
+      desc = desc::desc(text = "Authors@R: person('First', 'Last', role = 'cre')"),
+      src_path = tempdir()
     ),
     class = "pkgdown"
   )
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ test_that("includes package component", {
     list(
       package = "noodlr",
       desc = desc::desc(text = "Authors@R: person('First', 'Last', role = 'cre')"),
+      src_path = tempdir(),
       meta = list(
         footer = list(
           structure = list(left = "package")
@@ -30,6 +32,7 @@ test_that("includes package component", {
 test_that("can use custom components", {
   pkg <- structure(list(
     desc = desc::desc(text = "Authors@R: person('a', 'b', roles = 'cre')"),
+    src_path = tempdir(),
     meta = list(
       footer = list(
         structure = list(left = "test"),
@@ -44,6 +47,7 @@ test_that("can use custom components", {
 test_that("multiple components are pasted together", {
   pkg <- structure(list(
     desc = desc::desc(text = "Authors@R: person('a', 'b', roles = 'cre')"),
+    src_path = tempdir(),
     meta = list(
       footer = list(
         structure = list(left = c("a", "b")),
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-build-home-authors.R b/tests/testthat/test-build-home-authors.R
index 0eb6cd332..0a4dd5def 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-build-home-authors.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-build-home-authors.R
@@ -37,15 +37,9 @@ test_that("Data authors can accept different filtering", {
   expect_length(data_authors(pkg, roles = "cre")$main, 1)
 })
 
-test_that("Text can be added", {
-  pkg <- as_pkgdown(test_path("assets/sidebar-comment"))
-  expect_null(data_authors_page(pkg)$after)
-  expect_null(data_authors_page(pkg)$before)
-
-  pkg$meta$authors$before <- "Dream team:"
-  pkg$meta$authors$after <- "You are welcome!"
-  expect_equal(data_authors_page(pkg)$before, "<p>Dream team:</p>")
-  expect_equal(data_authors_page(pkg)$after, "<p>You are welcome!</p>")
+test_that("authors data includes inst/AUTHORS", {
+  pkg <- as_pkgdown(test_path("assets/inst-authors"))
+  expect_equal(data_authors(pkg)$inst, "Hello")
 })
 
 test_that("data_home_sidebar_authors() works with text", {
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-build-home-citation.R b/tests/testthat/test-build-home-citation.R
index cf369c151..faca99ebb 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-build-home-citation.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-build-home-citation.R
@@ -29,6 +29,15 @@ test_that("source link is added to citation page", {
   expect_true(any(grepl("<code>inst/CITATION</code></a></small>", lines)))
 })
 
+test_that("citation page includes inst/AUTHORS", {
+  pkg <- local_pkgdown_site(test_path("assets/inst-authors"))
+  suppressMessages(init_site(pkg))
+  suppressMessages(build_citation_authors(pkg))
+
+  lines <- read_lines(path(pkg$dst_path, "authors.html"))
+  expect_true(any(grepl("<pre>Hello</pre>", lines)))
+})
+
 test_that("multiple citations all have HTML and BibTeX formats", {
   citations <- data_citations(test_path("assets/site-citation/multi"))
   expect_snapshot_output(citations)
@@ -45,3 +54,4 @@ test_that("links in curly braces in authors comments are escaped", {
     "reviewed see &lt;<a href='https://github.com/r-lib/pkgdown/pulls'>https://github.com/r-lib/pkgdown/pulls</a>&gt;"
   )
 })
+
