diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ae3dcc6..a6fb1a8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ project(mpi-extensions)
 find_package(MPI REQUIRED)
 include_directories( ${MPI_C_INCLUDE_DIRS} )
 
+find_package(json-c REQUIRED)
+
 include(CTest)
 
 add_library(mpi-extensions SHARED)
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 542b595..b7ec7ed 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-find_package(json-c CONFIG)
 target_link_libraries(mpi-extensions PRIVATE json-c::json-c)
 
 target_sources(mpi-extensions