diff --git a/opac/sci/sci-main.pl b/opac/sci/sci-main.pl
index b76179ecf4..84d2a6cb67 100755
--- a/opac/sci/sci-main.pl
+++ b/opac/sci/sci-main.pl
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ if ( $op eq 'check_in' ) {
 }
 
 # Make sure timeout has a reasonable value
-my $timeout = C4::Context->preference('SelfCheckInTimeout') // 120;
+my $timeout = C4::Context->preference('SelfCheckInTimeout') || 120;
 $template->param( refresh_timeout => $timeout );
 
 output_html_with_http_headers $cgi, $cookie, $template->output, undef, { force_no_caching => 1 };