diff --git a/pyDataverse/__init__.py b/pyDataverse/__init__.py
index d0082ed..ef92598 100644
--- a/pyDataverse/__init__.py
+++ b/pyDataverse/__init__.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import warnings
+from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError, version
 
 import nest_asyncio
 
@@ -30,11 +31,16 @@
 __email__ = "stefan.kasberger@univie.ac.at"
 __copyright__ = "Copyright (c) 2019 Stefan Kasberger"
 __license__ = "MIT License"
-__version__ = "0.3.5"
+
 __url__ = "https://github.com/GDCC/pyDataverse"
 __download_url__ = "https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyDataverse"
 __description__ = "A Python module for Dataverse."
 
+try:
+    __version__ = version("pyDataverse")
+except PackageNotFoundError:
+    raise RuntimeError("pyDataverse is not installed")
+
 __all__ = [
     "Dataset",
     "Dataverse",
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index b9cf6c7..25ce6bf 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "pyDataverse"
-version = "0.4.0"
+version = "0.4.0beta1"
 description = "A Python module for Dataverse."
 readme = "README.md"
 license = { text = "MIT" }
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 20ef144..9767161 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -1922,7 +1922,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pydataverse"
-version = "0.4.0"
+version = "0.4.0b1"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "asyncer" },