diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 862c8b6c4..4832ced96 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ PY3_DEPS = \
 	check-manifest \
 	concurrencytest \
 	coverage \
+	packaging \
 	pylint \
 	pyperf \
 	pypinfo \
@@ -269,6 +270,13 @@ pre-release:  ## Check if we're ready to produce a new release.
 	${MAKE} sdist
 	${MAKE} check-sdist
 	${MAKE} install
+	$(PYTHON) -c \
+		"import requests, sys; \
+		from packaging.version import parse; \
+		from psutil import __version__; \
+		res = requests.get('https://pypi.org/pypi/psutil/json', timeout=5); \
+		versions = sorted(res.json()['releases'], key=parse, reverse=True); \
+		sys.exit('version %r already exists on PYPI' % __version__) if __version__ in versions else 0"
 	${MAKE} download-wheels-github
 	${MAKE} download-wheels-appveyor
 	${MAKE} check-wheels
diff --git a/psutil/__init__.py b/psutil/__init__.py
index 7ba00b3cb..0c702fc76 100644
--- a/psutil/__init__.py
+++ b/psutil/__init__.py
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@
 AF_LINK = _psplatform.AF_LINK
 
 __author__ = "Giampaolo Rodola'"
-__version__ = "5.9.6"
+__version__ = "5.9.7"
 version_info = tuple([int(num) for num in __version__.split('.')])
 
 _timer = getattr(time, 'monotonic', time.time)