diff --git a/.github/get-changelog-diff.sh b/.github/get-changelog-diff.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..1c2185346
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/get-changelog-diff.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+git remote add upstream https://github.com/PSLmodels/OG-Core.git
+git fetch --tags upstream
+last_tagged_commit=`git describe --tags --abbrev=0 --first-parent`
+git --no-pager diff $last_tagged_commit -- CHANGELOG.md
diff --git a/.github/has-functional-changes.sh b/.github/has-functional-changes.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d3b47ca99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/has-functional-changes.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+
+IGNORE_DIFF_ON="README.md CONTRIBUTING.md Makefile .gitignore LICENSE* .github/* environment.yml"
+
+last_tagged_commit=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 --first-parent) # --first-parent ensures we don't follow tags not published in master through an unlikely intermediary merge commit
+
+if git diff-index --name-only --exit-code $last_tagged_commit -- . $(echo " $IGNORE_DIFF_ON" | sed 's/ / :(exclude)/g'); then # Check if any file that has not be listed in IGNORE_DIFF_ON has changed since the last tag was published.
+  echo "No functional changes detected."
+  exit 1
+else
+  echo "The functional files above were changed."
+fi
diff --git a/.github/is-version-number-acceptable.sh b/.github/is-version-number-acceptable.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..0f704a93f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/is-version-number-acceptable.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env bash
+
+if [[ ${GITHUB_REF#refs/heads/} == master ]]
+then
+    echo "No need for a version check on master."
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+if ! $(dirname "$BASH_SOURCE")/has-functional-changes.sh
+then
+    echo "No need for a version update."
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+current_version=`python setup.py --version`
+
+if git rev-parse --verify --quiet $current_version
+then
+    echo "Version $current_version already exists in commit:"
+    git --no-pager log -1 $current_version
+    echo
+    echo "Update the version number in setup.py before merging this branch into master."
+    echo "Look at the CONTRIBUTING.md file to learn how the version number should be updated."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! $(dirname "$BASH_SOURCE")/has-functional-changes.sh | grep --quiet CHANGELOG.md
+then
+    echo "CHANGELOG.md has not been modified, while functional changes were made."
+    echo "Explain what you changed before merging this branch into master."
+    echo "Look at the CONTRIBUTING.md file to learn how to write the changelog."
+    exit 2
+fi