diff --git a/dspback/routers/discovery.py b/dspback/routers/discovery.py
index b1a53fc..a8c0402 100644
--- a/dspback/routers/discovery.py
+++ b/dspback/routers/discovery.py
@@ -84,15 +84,8 @@ async def search(
                 }
             },
         )
-
-    if term:
-        stages[0]['$search']['highlight'] = {'path': search_paths}
-        # get only results which meet minimum relevance score threshold
-        score_threshold = get_settings().search_relevance_score_threshold
-        stages.append({'$match': {'score': {'$gt': score_threshold}}})
         stages[0]['$search']['count'] = {'type': 'total'}
-
-        stages.append({'$project': {'meta':  "$$SEARCH_META",
+        stages.append({'$project': {'meta': "$$SEARCH_META",
                                     '_id': 0,
                                     '@context': 1,
                                     'repository_identifier': 1,
@@ -112,19 +105,27 @@ async def search(
                                     'relations': 1,
                                     'legacy': 1,
                                     'clusters': 1,
-                                    'score': 1,
-                                    'highlights': {'$meta': 'searchHighlights'}
+                                    'score': 1
                                     }
                        })
 
+    if term:
+        stages[0]['$search']['highlight'] = {'path': search_paths}
+        # get only results which meet minimum relevance score threshold
+        score_threshold = get_settings().search_relevance_score_threshold
+        stages.append({'$match': {'score': {'$gt': score_threshold}}})
+        for stage in stages:
+            if '$project' in stage:
+                stage['$project']['highlights'] = {'$meta': 'searchHighlights'}
+                break
+
     results = await request.app.db[get_settings().mongo_database]["discovery"].aggregate(stages).to_list(pageSize)
 
-    if term:
-        meta = None
-        for result in results:
-            meta = result.pop('meta', None)
-        if meta:
-            results = {"meta": meta, "docs": results}
+    meta = None
+    for result in results:
+        meta = result.pop('meta', None)
+    if meta:
+        results = {"meta": meta, "docs": results}
     else:
         results = {"docs": results}
     return results