diff --git a/doc/release-notes/10947-unpublished-files-appearing-in-search-results-for-anon-user.md b/doc/release-notes/10947-unpublished-files-appearing-in-search-results-for-anon-user.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..66ea04b124f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/release-notes/10947-unpublished-files-appearing-in-search-results-for-anon-user.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+## Unpublished file bug fix
+
+A bug fix was made that gets the major version of a Dataset when all major versions were deaccessioned. This fixes the incorrect showing of the files as "Unpublished" in the search list even when they are published.
+This fix affects the indexing, meaning these datasets must be re-indexed once Dataverse is updated. This can be manually done by calling the index API for each affected Dataset.
+
+Example:
+```shell
+curl http://localhost:8080/api/admin/index/dataset?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/6X4ZZL
+```
+
+See also #10947 and #10974.
diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/Dataset.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/Dataset.java
index 40ed491a302..78579b1de21 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/Dataset.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/Dataset.java
@@ -483,8 +483,17 @@ public Date getMostRecentMajorVersionReleaseDate() {
         if (this.isHarvested()) {
             return getVersions().get(0).getReleaseTime();
         } else {
+            Long majorVersion = null;
             for (DatasetVersion version : this.getVersions()) {
-                if (version.isReleased() && version.getMinorVersionNumber().equals((long) 0)) {
+                if (version.isReleased()) {
+                    if (version.getMinorVersionNumber().equals((long) 0)) {
+                        return version.getReleaseTime();
+                    } else if (majorVersion == null) {
+                        majorVersion = version.getVersionNumber();
+                    }
+                } else if (version.isDeaccessioned() && majorVersion != null
+                        && majorVersion.longValue() == version.getVersionNumber().longValue()
+                        && version.getMinorVersionNumber().equals((long) 0)) {
                     return version.getReleaseTime();
                 }
             }
diff --git a/src/test/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/DatasetTest.java b/src/test/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/DatasetTest.java
index 2153a336303..687e0af5b81 100644
--- a/src/test/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/DatasetTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/DatasetTest.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.List;
 
 /**
@@ -240,5 +241,41 @@ public void datasetShouldBeDeaccessionedWithDeaccessionedAndDeaccessionedVersion
 
         assertTrue(dataset.isDeaccessioned());
     }
- 
+
+    @Test
+    public void testGetMostRecentMajorVersionReleaseDateWithDeaccessionedVersions() {
+        List<DatasetVersion> versionList = new ArrayList<DatasetVersion>();
+
+        long ver = 5;
+        // 5.2
+        DatasetVersion relVersion = new DatasetVersion();
+        relVersion.setVersionState(VersionState.RELEASED);
+        relVersion.setMinorVersionNumber(2L);
+        relVersion.setVersionNumber(ver);
+        versionList.add(relVersion);
+
+        // 5.1
+        relVersion = new DatasetVersion();
+        relVersion.setVersionState(VersionState.DEACCESSIONED);
+        relVersion.setMinorVersionNumber(1L);
+        relVersion.setVersionNumber(ver);
+        versionList.add(relVersion);
+
+        // 5.0, 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.0
+        while  (ver > 0) {
+            DatasetVersion deaccessionedVersion = new DatasetVersion();
+            deaccessionedVersion.setVersionState(VersionState.DEACCESSIONED);
+            // only add an actual date to v5.0 so the assertNotNull will only pass if this version's date is returned
+            deaccessionedVersion.setReleaseTime((ver == 5) ? new Date() : null);
+            deaccessionedVersion.setMinorVersionNumber(0L);
+            deaccessionedVersion.setVersionNumber(ver--);
+            versionList.add(deaccessionedVersion);
+        }
+
+        Dataset dataset = new Dataset();
+        dataset.setVersions(versionList);
+
+        Date releaseDate = dataset.getMostRecentMajorVersionReleaseDate();
+        assertNotNull(releaseDate);
+    }
 }