diff --git a/packages/component-mts-package/src/MTS.js b/packages/component-mts-package/src/MTS.js
index 5907e433d3efbc27e2c018829a8e87014bc1a05e..22d862896b71ffa81a67478a708a0dadcc262974 100644
--- a/packages/component-mts-package/src/MTS.js
+++ b/packages/component-mts-package/src/MTS.js
@@ -166,6 +166,12 @@ class MTS {
       ? 'no'
       : hasDataAvailability
 
+    const getQuestionMessage = (selection, message, defaultMessage) => {
+      if (selection === 'yes') {
+        return ''
+      }
+      return isEmpty(message) ? defaultMessage : message
+    }
     if (!isEmpty(hasConflicts)) {
       questions.push({
         _attributes: {
@@ -188,9 +194,11 @@ class MTS {
           _text: capitalize(dataAvailability),
         },
         statement: {
-          _text: isEmpty(dataAvailabilityMessage)
-            ? 'The authors for this paper did not provide a data availability statement'
-            : dataAvailabilityMessage,
+          _text: getQuestionMessage(
+            dataAvailability,
+            dataAvailabilityMessage,
+            'The authors for this paper did not provide a data availability statement',
+          ),
         },
       })
     }
@@ -203,9 +211,11 @@ class MTS {
           _text: capitalize(funding),
         },
         statement: {
-          _text: isEmpty(fundingMessage)
-            ? 'The authors for this paper did not provide a funding statement'
-            : fundingMessage,
+          _text: getQuestionMessage(
+            funding,
+            fundingMessage,
+            'The authors for this paper did not provide a funding statement',
+          ),
         },
       })
     }