diff --git a/src/finish.cpp b/src/finish.cpp
index ea472682a2..f0d64e1a4e 100644
--- a/src/finish.cpp
+++ b/src/finish.cpp
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ void Finish::end(int flag)
   if (neighflag) {
     if (me == 0) utils::logmesg(lmp,"\n");
 
-    tmp = MAX(nneigh,nneighfull);
+    tmp = MAX(MAX(nneigh,nneighfull),0.0);
     double nall;
     MPI_Allreduce(&tmp,&nall,1,MPI_DOUBLE,MPI_SUM,world);