diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 5387835a0..75f525b21 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -25,6 +25,20 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: get repository name
+        shell: bash
+        run: echo "REPOSITORY_NAME=${GITHUB_REPOSITORY#*/}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+      - name: Fetch tags upstream
+        if: ${{ github.repository_owner != 'hyperspy' }}
+        # Needs to fetch the tags from upstream to get the
+        # correct version with setuptools_scm
+        run: |
+          git remote add upstream https://github.com/hyperspy/${{ env.REPOSITORY_NAME }}.git
+          git fetch upstream --tags
 
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
         name: Install Python
@@ -37,7 +51,6 @@ jobs:
           pip --version
 
       - name: Install
-        shell: bash
         run: |
           pip install -e .[tests]
 
diff --git a/exspy/__init__.py b/exspy/__init__.py
index 61271b919..f48161b06 100644
--- a/exspy/__init__.py
+++ b/exspy/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,22 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Copyright 2007-2023 The exSpy developers
+#
+# This file is part of exSpy.
+#
+# exSpy is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# exSpy is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with exSpy. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/#GPL>.
+
+from importlib.metadata import version
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from . import components
@@ -8,16 +27,29 @@
 from ._defaults_parser import preferences
 
 
-if Path(__file__).parent.parent.name == "site-packages":  # pragma: no cover
-    # Tested in the "build" workflow on GitHub CI
-    from importlib.metadata import version
+__version__ = version("exspy")
+
+# For development version, `setuptools_scm` will be used at build time
+# to get the dev version, in case of missing vcs information (git archive,
+# shallow repository), the fallback version defined in pyproject.toml will
+# be used
+
+# if we have a editable install from a git repository try to use
+# `setuptools_scm` to find a more accurate version:
+# `importlib.metadata` will provide the version at installation
+# time and for editable version this may be different
 
-    __version__ = version("rosettasciio")
-else:
-    # Editable install
-    from setuptools_scm import get_version
+# we only do that if we have enough git history, e.g. not shallow checkout
+_root = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+if (_root / ".git").exists() and not (_root / ".git/shallow").exists():
+    try:
+        # setuptools_scm may not be installed
+        from setuptools_scm import get_version
 
-    __version__ = get_version(Path(__file__).parent.parent)
+        __version__ = get_version(_root)
+    except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
+        # setuptools_scm not install, we keep the existing __version__
+        pass
 
 
 __all__ = [
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f92a4d8b2..89b1fc936 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -118,3 +118,5 @@ include = ["exspy*"]
 
 [tool.setuptools_scm]
 # Presence enables setuptools_scm, the version will be determine at build time from git
+# The version will be updated by the `prepare_release.py` script
+fallback_version = "0.1.dev0"
diff --git a/releasing_guide.md b/releasing_guide.md
index b211bc212..2772d8175 100644
--- a/releasing_guide.md
+++ b/releasing_guide.md
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ To publish a new exSpy release do the following steps:
 
 ## Preparation
 
-- Create a new PR to the 'main' branch for the release process, e.g. `release_v0.1.1`
-- Make sure to have the code ready, including changelog
+- Create a new PR to the 'main' branch for the release process, e.g. `release_v0.1.1` with
+  the following changes:
+  - Update and check release notes 
+  - Update dev `fallback_version` in `pyproject.toml`
 - Let that PR collect comments for a day to ensure that other maintainers are comfortable
   with releasing
 - Set correct date and version number in `CHANGES.rst`