diff --git a/src/neighbor.cpp b/src/neighbor.cpp
index 586ed6bba2..de1771168e 100644
--- a/src/neighbor.cpp
+++ b/src/neighbor.cpp
@@ -2269,7 +2269,7 @@ int Neighbor::request(void *requestor, int instance)
 NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Pair *requestor, int flags)
 {
   int irequest = request(requestor, requestor->instance_me);
-  auto req = requests[irequest];
+  auto *req = requests[irequest];
   req->apply_flags(flags);
   // apply intel flag. omp flag is set globally via set_omp_neighbor()
   if (requestor->suffix_flag & Suffix::INTEL) {
@@ -2282,7 +2282,7 @@ NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Pair *requestor, int flags)
 NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Fix *requestor, int flags)
 {
   int irequest = request(requestor, requestor->instance_me);
-  auto req = requests[irequest];
+  auto *req = requests[irequest];
   req->pair = 0;
   req->fix = 1;
   req->apply_flags(flags);
@@ -2292,7 +2292,7 @@ NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Fix *requestor, int flags)
 NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Compute *requestor, int flags)
 {
   int irequest = request(requestor, requestor->instance_me);
-  auto req = requests[irequest];
+  auto *req = requests[irequest];
   req->pair = 0;
   req->compute = 1;
   req->apply_flags(flags);
@@ -2302,7 +2302,7 @@ NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Compute *requestor, int flags)
 NeighRequest *Neighbor::add_request(Command *requestor, const char *style, int flags)
 {
   int irequest = request(requestor, 0);
-  auto req = requests[irequest];
+  auto *req = requests[irequest];
   req->pair = 0;
   req->command = 1;
   req->occasional = 1;