diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index f19260f1..01b8e530 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -137,8 +137,8 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags') }}
         run: |
           PYTHON_VERSION=$(grep "\bversion='[^']+'" | awk -F "'" '{print $2}')
-          if [ "${steps.version.outputs.version}" != "$PYTHON_VERSION" ]; then
-            echo "Version mismatch; tag version is [${steps.version.outputs.version}] but Python version is [$PYTHON_VERSION]"
+          if [ "${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}" != "$PYTHON_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "Version mismatch; tag version is [${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}] but Python version is [$PYTHON_VERSION]"
             exit 1
           fi