diff --git a/.github/hibernate-github-bot.yml b/.github/hibernate-github-bot.yml
index 2f3ff3906ec..64ea3801fc4 100644
--- a/.github/hibernate-github-bot.yml
+++ b/.github/hibernate-github-bot.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jira:
     - "*.Jenkinsfile"
     - "*.sh"
     # In-repo documentation
-    - "copyright.txt"
+    - "AUTHORS.txt"
     - "README.md"
     - "MAINTAINERS.md"
     - "CONTRIBUTING.md"
diff --git a/copyright.txt b/AUTHORS.txt
similarity index 79%
rename from copyright.txt
rename to AUTHORS.txt
index 861913640f5..be03cf1056c 100644
--- a/copyright.txt
+++ b/AUTHORS.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
+# This file lists copyright owners of the project.
+# The list is not exhaustive: other copyright owners exist.
+# See CONTRIBUTING.md for instructions regarding how to be added to this list.
+
+# Corporate contributors
+
 Red Hat, Inc.
+
+# Individual contributors
+
 Adam Harris
 Adrian Nistor
 Ales Justin
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 7550f36e64f..ba3a051be39 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ To allow for backports, the Hibernate team may ask contributors to dual-license
 All contributions are subject to the [Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO)](https://developercertificate.org/).
 The DCO text is also included verbatim in the [dco.txt](dco.txt) file in the root directory of the repository.
 
+Copyright owners are listed in [AUTHORS.txt](AUTHORS.txt).
+Contributors with a valid copyright claim can request to be added to that list
+by sending a pull request to the project's GitHub repository,
+listing at least one relevant contribution in the pull request description.
+Note: one-liner or repetitive patches may not be sufficient to claim copyright.
+
 ## Finding something to contribute
 
 Our [JIRA instance](https://hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HSEARCH) is where all tasks are reported and tracked.
diff --git a/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml b/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml
index 93ac7c26ac5..f2912b0641f 100644
--- a/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml
+++ b/distribution/src/main/assembly/dist.xml
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@
 			<outputDirectory></outputDirectory>
 		</file>
 		<file>
-			<source>../copyright.txt</source>
+			<source>../AUTHORS.txt</source>
 			<outputDirectory></outputDirectory>
 		</file>
 	</files>
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@
 				<exclude>README.md</exclude>
 				<exclude>CONTRIBUTING.md</exclude>
 				<exclude>changelog.txt</exclude>
-				<exclude>copyright.txt</exclude>
+				<exclude>AUTHORS.txt</exclude>
 				<exclude>LICENSE.txt</exclude>
 
 				<!-- only needed for documentation and helper scripts, no need to include them -->
diff --git a/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/public/reference/_credits.adoc b/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/public/reference/_credits.adoc
index 6dff9706763..b65900ddb8c 100644
--- a/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/public/reference/_credits.adoc
+++ b/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/public/reference/_credits.adoc
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 [[credits]]
 = Credits
 
-The full list of contributors to Hibernate Search can be found in the `copyright.txt` file in the Hibernate Search sources,
-available in particular in our https://github.com/hibernate/hibernate-search/blob/main/copyright.txt[git repository].
+The list of contributors to Hibernate Search can be found in the `AUTHORS.txt` file in the Hibernate Search sources,
+available in particular in our https://github.com/hibernate/hibernate-search/blob/main/AUTHORS.txt[git repository].
 
 The following contributors have been involved in this documentation: