diff --git a/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/dhp/oa/dedup/SparkCreateMergeRels.java b/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/dhp/oa/dedup/SparkCreateMergeRels.java
index 46c29494e..191870d3b 100644
--- a/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/dhp/oa/dedup/SparkCreateMergeRels.java
+++ b/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/dhp/oa/dedup/SparkCreateMergeRels.java
@@ -213,7 +213,6 @@ public class SparkCreateMergeRels extends AbstractSparkAction {
 				.join(pivotingData, JavaConversions.asScalaBuffer(Collections.singletonList("id")), "left")
 				.withColumn("pivot", functions.first("id").over(w))
 				.withColumn("position", functions.row_number().over(w))
-				.filter(cut > 0 ? col("position").lt(lit(cut)) : lit(true)) // apply cut after choosing pivot
 				.flatMap(
 					(FlatMapFunction<Row, Tuple3<String, String, String>>) (Row r) -> {
 						String id = r.getAs("id");
@@ -249,7 +248,9 @@ public class SparkCreateMergeRels extends AbstractSparkAction {
 						}
 
 						// add merge relations
-						res.add(new Tuple3<>(id, pivotDedupId, pivot));
+						if (cut <=0 || r.<Integer>getAs("position") <= cut) {
+							res.add(new Tuple3<>(id, pivotDedupId, pivot));
+						}
 
 						return res.iterator();
 					}, Encoders.tuple(Encoders.STRING(), Encoders.STRING(), Encoders.STRING()))