diff --git a/pyscan/general/get_pyscan_version.py b/pyscan/general/get_pyscan_version.py
index 2be74172..de0b41b7 100644
--- a/pyscan/general/get_pyscan_version.py
+++ b/pyscan/general/get_pyscan_version.py
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
 
 
 # function that gets the overarching version of pyscan from VERSION.json
-def get_pyscan_version(path="VERSION.json"):
+def get_pyscan_version(path="../VERSION.json"):
     base_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
-    path = os.path.join(base_dir, os.pardir, os.pardir, path)
+    path = os.path.join(base_dir, path)
     with open(path) as version_file:
         version = json.load(version_file)['version']
         if type(version) is str:
             return 'v' + version
         else:
-            return "no valid version found"
+            assert False, "no valid version found"