diff --git a/workflow/rna-seq.nf b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
index d57b8e087a2140e7a0f235f6efa16ee1d38da63f..af5dc1a460421a723f2315c76a08017008021231 100644
--- a/workflow/rna-seq.nf
+++ b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
@@ -840,7 +840,7 @@ process inferMetadata {
       fi
     fi
 
-    if [ !\${speciesError} ] && [ "${speciesForce}" = "" ]
+    if !\${speciesError} && [ "${speciesForce}" = "" ]
     then
       # infer experimental setting from dedup bam
       echo -e "LOG: infer experimental setting from dedup bam" >> ${repRID}.inferMetadata.log