diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cb634a5..b6cd32d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [v3.3.2] - 2026-04-06
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Krill output now writes `pubDate` even when only partial `pubDate` information is available in `header.xml`, for example year-only values such as `1960` ([#39](https://github.com/KorAP/korapxmltool/issues/39))
+
 ## [v3.3.1] - 2026-04-05
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/app/src/main/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KorapXmlTool.kt b/app/src/main/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KorapXmlTool.kt
index ae12b93..b181a0d 100644
--- a/app/src/main/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KorapXmlTool.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KorapXmlTool.kt
@@ -5440,17 +5440,24 @@
             var year: String? = null
             var month: String? = null
             var day: String? = null
+            var plainPubDate: String? = null
             headerRoot.childElements("pubDate").forEach { element ->
-                val value = element.textContent?.trim()?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() } ?: return@forEach
-                when (element.getAttribute("type")) {
+                val value = element.textContent?.trim()?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }
+                val type = element.getAttribute("type")
+                if (type.isBlank()) {
+                    if (plainPubDate == null && value != null) {
+                        plainPubDate = value
+                    }
+                    return@forEach
+                }
+                if (value == null) return@forEach
+                when (type) {
                     "year" -> year = value
                     "month" -> month = value
                     "day" -> day = value
                 }
             }
-            if (year != null && month != null && day != null) {
-                metadata["pubDate"] = "${year}-${month.padStart(2, '0')}-${day.padStart(2, '0')}"
-            }
+            composeKrillPubDate(year, month, day, plainPubDate)?.let { metadata["pubDate"] = it }
 
             headerRoot.firstElement("ref") { it.getAttribute("type") == "page_url" }
                 ?.getAttribute("target")?.takeIf { it.isNotBlank() }?.let { metadata["externalLink"] = it }
@@ -5481,6 +5488,30 @@
         }
     }
 
+    private fun composeKrillPubDate(
+        year: String?,
+        month: String?,
+        day: String?,
+        plainPubDate: String? = null
+    ): String? {
+        val normalizedYear = year?.trim()?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }
+        val normalizedMonth = month?.trim()?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }
+        val normalizedDay = day?.trim()?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }
+
+        if (normalizedYear != null) {
+            val parts = mutableListOf(normalizedYear)
+            if (normalizedMonth != null) {
+                parts.add(normalizedMonth.padStart(2, '0'))
+                if (normalizedDay != null) {
+                    parts.add(normalizedDay.padStart(2, '0'))
+                }
+            }
+            return parts.joinToString("-")
+        }
+
+        return plainPubDate?.trim()?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }
+    }
+
     // Collect corpus-level metadata from corpus header
     private fun collectCorpusMetadata(corpusSigle: String, headerRoot: Element) {
         val metadata = corpusMetadata.getOrPut(corpusSigle) { mutableMapOf() }
diff --git a/app/src/test/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KrillJsonGeneratorTest.kt b/app/src/test/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KrillJsonGeneratorTest.kt
index 94a0af7..dd607fa 100644
--- a/app/src/test/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KrillJsonGeneratorTest.kt
+++ b/app/src/test/kotlin/de/ids_mannheim/korapxmltools/KrillJsonGeneratorTest.kt
@@ -5,11 +5,14 @@
 import org.junit.After
 import org.junit.AfterClass
 import org.junit.Before
+import org.w3c.dom.Element
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream
 import java.io.File
 import java.io.PrintStream
 import java.net.URL
 import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream
+import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory
 import kotlin.test.Test
 import kotlin.test.assertEquals
 import kotlin.test.assertTrue
@@ -102,6 +105,21 @@
         return resource
     }
 
+    private fun headerElement(xml: String): Element {
+        val dbFactory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance()
+        val builder = dbFactory.newDocumentBuilder()
+        val doc = builder.parse(ByteArrayInputStream(xml.trimIndent().toByteArray()))
+        return doc.documentElement
+    }
+
+    private fun collectKrillMetadata(tool: KorapXmlTool, docId: String, headerRoot: Element): Map<String, Any> {
+        tool.krillData[docId] = KrillJsonGenerator.KrillTextData(textId = docId)
+        val method = KorapXmlTool::class.java.getDeclaredMethod("collectKrillMetadata", String::class.java, Element::class.java)
+        method.isAccessible = true
+        method.invoke(tool, docId, headerRoot)
+        return tool.krillData.getValue(docId).headerMetadata
+    }
+
     @Test
     fun krillOutputMatchesExpectedStructure() {
         val baseZip = loadResource("wud24_sample.zip").path
@@ -460,6 +478,47 @@
     }
 
     @Test
+    fun krillPubDateFallsBackToAvailableDateParts() {
+        val tool = KorapXmlTool()
+
+        val yearOnlyMetadata = collectKrillMetadata(
+            tool,
+            "TEST_DOC.1",
+            headerElement(
+                """
+                <idsHeader>
+                  <analytic/>
+                  <monogr/>
+                  <textDesc/>
+                  <pubDate type="year">1960</pubDate>
+                  <pubDate type="month"/>
+                  <pubDate type="day"/>
+                </idsHeader>
+                """
+            )
+        )
+        assertEquals("1960", yearOnlyMetadata["pubDate"])
+
+        val yearMonthMetadata = collectKrillMetadata(
+            KorapXmlTool(),
+            "TEST_DOC.2",
+            headerElement(
+                """
+                <idsHeader>
+                  <analytic/>
+                  <monogr/>
+                  <textDesc/>
+                  <pubDate type="year">1960</pubDate>
+                  <pubDate type="month">7</pubDate>
+                  <pubDate type="day"/>
+                </idsHeader>
+                """
+            )
+        )
+        assertEquals("1960-07", yearMonthMetadata["pubDate"])
+    }
+
+    @Test
     fun testCorrectTextCount() {
         val baseZip = loadResource("wud24_sample.zip").path