diff --git a/workflow/rna-seq.nf b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
index b86cae63b7010a553acf9f79571663937f79f201..3abeb1f07328642e0941fd783cc35bf78c80ca6d 100644
--- a/workflow/rna-seq.nf
+++ b/workflow/rna-seq.nf
@@ -841,7 +841,7 @@ 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