diff --git a/ci/scripts/r_test.sh b/ci/scripts/r_test.sh
index 7bb735d1e7077..da1c0d382ac7f 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/r_test.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/r_test.sh
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ SCRIPT="as_cran <- !identical(tolower(Sys.getenv('NOT_CRAN')), 'true')
     env <- c('_R_CHECK_CRAN_INCOMING_REMOTE_'='TRUE')
 
     # Attempt to install pandoc, this will only work on systems with apt
-    system(c('apt', 'install', '-y', 'pandoc')
+    system(c('apt', 'install', '-y', 'pandoc'))
   } else {
     args <- c('--no-manual', '--ignore-vignettes')
     build_args <- '--no-build-vignettes'