diff --git a/workflow/rna-seq.nf b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
index 51f80be73efe935f7e2eca406d508507c037a709..fa8a88a831e600e50dd7d46f54fee8e70283b49c 100644
--- a/workflow/rna-seq.nf
+++ b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
@@ -882,6 +882,7 @@ process inferMetadata {
       percentF=""
       percentR=""
       fail=""
+      touch ${repRID}.infer_experiment.txt
     fi
 
     # write inferred metadata to file