diff --git a/cpp/particles/interpolation/abstract_particle_set.hpp b/cpp/particles/interpolation/abstract_particle_set.hpp
index 9dc9175067b2c1d47516f75b357a2b77dc77250b..a5a8442e5b333414d933eb4e53c54d3691d3da67 100644
--- a/cpp/particles/interpolation/abstract_particle_set.hpp
+++ b/cpp/particles/interpolation/abstract_particle_set.hpp
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class abstract_particle_set
         virtual partsize_t getLocalNumberOfParticles() const = 0;
         virtual partsize_t getTotalNumberOfParticles() const = 0;
         virtual partsize_t* getParticlesPerPartition() const = 0;
-        virtual const int getStateSize() const = 0;
+        virtual int getStateSize() const = 0;
 
         virtual std::vector<hsize_t> getParticleFileLayout() = 0;
 
diff --git a/cpp/particles/interpolation/particle_set.hpp b/cpp/particles/interpolation/particle_set.hpp
index 60ff8e22325d8426421aaeddde031b25889e54e2..c3d7cc5552e4d45391432c86befa66568f636f97 100644
--- a/cpp/particles/interpolation/particle_set.hpp
+++ b/cpp/particles/interpolation/particle_set.hpp
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ class particle_set: public abstract_particle_set
             return this->number_particles_per_partition.get();
         }
 
-        const int getStateSize() const
+        int getStateSize() const
         {
             return state_size;
         }