diff --git a/reacnetgenerator/reacnetgen.py b/reacnetgenerator/reacnetgen.py
index e4e277db0..1904c417c 100644
--- a/reacnetgenerator/reacnetgen.py
+++ b/reacnetgenerator/reacnetgen.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 import base64
 from io import StringIO
 from collections import Counter, defaultdict
+from pkg_resources import get_distribution, DistributionNotFound
 import numpy as np
 import networkx as nx
 import networkx.algorithms.isomorphism as iso
@@ -70,6 +71,11 @@
 
 plt.switch_backend('Agg')
 
+try:
+    __version__ = get_distribution(__name__).version
+except DistributionNotFound:
+    # package is not installed
+    pass
 
 class ReacNetGenerator(object):
     ''' Use ReacNetGenerator for trajectory analysis'''
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ce1a8a1ed..873a1d21b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 from setuptools import setup
 setup(name='reacnetgenerator',
-      version='1.2.20',
       description='Reaction Network Generator',
       keywords="reaction network",
       url='https://njzjz.github.io/reacnetgenerator/',
@@ -15,4 +14,6 @@
       },
       test_suite='reacnetgenerator.test',
       tests_require=['requests'],
+      use_scm_version=True,
+      setup_requires=['setuptools_scm'],
       )