diff --git a/.github/workflows/merge_release.yml b/.github/workflows/merge_release.yml
index 1d6b7d1e78..83f91a7567 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/merge_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/merge_release.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish == 'main' }}
         run: |
           ./build reset_development_version
-          git add VERSION.dev && git commit -m "[Bot] Update development version to $(cat VERSION.dev)." && git push origin main
+          git add .version-dev && git commit -m "[Bot] Update development version to $(cat .version-dev)." && git push origin main
       - name: Merge into feature branch
         if: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish == 'main' }}
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release_development.yml b/.github/workflows/release_development.yml
index 9299d07796..3268f7c5c9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release_development.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release_development.yml
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Update development version
         run: |
           ./build increment_development_version
-          git add VERSION.dev
-          git commit -m "[Bot] Update development version to $(cat VERSION.dev)."
+          git add .version-dev
+          git commit -m "[Bot] Update development version to $(cat .version-dev)."
           git push
   read_python_version:
     name: Read Python version
diff --git a/VERSION.dev b/.version-dev
similarity index 100%
rename from VERSION.dev
rename to .version-dev
diff --git a/doc/developer_guide/coding_standards.md b/doc/developer_guide/coding_standards.md
index 91e9f89398..00fc4e0778 100644
--- a/doc/developer_guide/coding_standards.md
+++ b/doc/developer_guide/coding_standards.md
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ We do not allow directly pushing to the above branches. Instead, all changes mus
 
 Once modifications to one of the branches have been merged, {ref}`ci` jobs are used to automatically update downstream branches via pull requests. If all checks for such pull requests are successful, they are merged automatically. If there are any merge conflicts, they must be resolved manually. Following this procedure, changes to the feature brach are merged into the main branch (see `merge_feature.yml`), whereas changes to the bugfix branch are first merged into the feature branch and then into the main branch (see `merge_bugfix.yml`).
 
-Whenever a new release has been published, the release branch is merged into the upstream branches (see `merge_release.yml`), i.e., major releases result in the feature and bugfix branches being updated, whereas minor releases result in the bugfix branch being updated. The version of the release branch and the affected branches are updated accordingly. The version of a branch is specified in the file `VERSION` in the project's root directory. Similarly, the file `VERSION.dev` is used to keep track of the version number used for development releases (see `release_development.yml`).
+Whenever a new release has been published, the release branch is merged into the upstream branches (see `merge_release.yml`), i.e., major releases result in the feature and bugfix branches being updated, whereas minor releases result in the bugfix branch being updated. The version of the release branch and the affected branches are updated accordingly. The version of a branch is specified in the file `VERSION` in the project's root directory. Similarly, the file `.version-dev` is used to keep track of the version number used for development releases (see `release_development.yml`).
 
 (dependencies)=
 
diff --git a/scons/versioning.py b/scons/versioning.py
index 0f087490ce..f1a65ba227 100644
--- a/scons/versioning.py
+++ b/scons/versioning.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 VERSION_FILE = 'VERSION'
 
-DEV_VERSION_FILE = VERSION_FILE + '.dev'
+DEV_VERSION_FILE = '.version-dev'
 
 VERSION_FILE_ENCODING = 'utf-8'