diff --git a/biosimulators_test_suite/test_case/published_project.py b/biosimulators_test_suite/test_case/published_project.py
index 5a44712..35718b6 100644
--- a/biosimulators_test_suite/test_case/published_project.py
+++ b/biosimulators_test_suite/test_case/published_project.py
@@ -320,9 +320,6 @@ def eval(self, specifications, working_dirname, synthetic_archives_dir=None, dry
         if dry_run:
             return
 
-        if not os.path.isdir(working_dirname):
-            os.makedirs(working_dirname)
-
         # pull image and execute COMBINE/OMEX archive for case
         try:
             self.exec_sedml_docs_in_archive(specifications, working_dirname, cli=cli)
diff --git a/tests/test_case/test_published_project.py b/tests/test_case/test_published_project.py
index 19687e0..f13caf1 100644
--- a/tests/test_case/test_published_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_case/test_published_project.py
@@ -218,6 +218,9 @@ def exec_archive(error, missing_report, extra_report, missing_data_set, extra_da
                 data[0][0] = -1
                 data[1][0] = -1
 
+            if not os.path.isdir(out_dir):
+                os.makedirs(out_dir)
+
             if extra_report:
                 report = Report(id='report', data_sets=[DataSet(id=i, label=l) for i, l in zip(ids, labels)])
                 data_set_results = DataSetResults({i: d for i, d in zip(ids, data)})
@@ -229,6 +232,7 @@ def exec_archive(error, missing_report, extra_report, missing_data_set, extra_da
                 ReportWriter().run(report, data_set_results, out_dir, 'BIOMD0000000912_sim.sedml/report', ReportFormat.h5)
 
             plot_file = os.path.join(out_dir, 'plot.pdf')
+
             with open(plot_file, 'w'):
                 pass