Hi Donna. This is happening because when the content is submitted, an empty answer gets sent back as null which oddly enough is different from a blank answer. So journal believes the content has changed and thus grades it or emails regarding it. I had to go into the Journal plugin and add code to modify this. I am using a modified version for our site. I had to modify some code in the report.php file. I could share it with you if interested. I could share our modified copy of Journal too which adds settings to control the email output too, if you'd like. I make no guarantees though but it has been working without issue for the past 6 months.
Journal (plugin)
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