diff --git a/gui/src/components/metaInfoBrowser/MetaInfoBrowser.js b/gui/src/components/metaInfoBrowser/MetaInfoBrowser.js
index f6b61bafed640795ed7d8d5ca74f22c9ac453fc0..716a39c018f1edbf1e35e175a565f5a79aecba71 100644
--- a/gui/src/components/metaInfoBrowser/MetaInfoBrowser.js
+++ b/gui/src/components/metaInfoBrowser/MetaInfoBrowser.js
@@ -91,10 +91,10 @@ class MetaInfoBrowser extends Component {
     this.props.api.getInfo().then(info => {
       const domain = info.domains.find(domain => domain.name === 'dft') // TODO deal with domains
       this.props.api.getMetaInfo(pkg || domain.metainfo.all_package).then(metainfos => {
-        const metainfoName = this.props.metainfo || domain.metainfo.root_sections[0]
+        const metainfoName = this.props.metainfo || domain.metainfo.root_section
         const definition = metainfos.get(metainfoName)
         if (!definition) {
-          this.props.history.push(`/metainfo/${domain.metainfo.root_sections[0]}`)
+          this.props.history.push(`/metainfo/${domain.metainfo.root_section}`)
         } else {
           this.setState({loadedPackage: pkg, metainfos: metainfos})
         }
@@ -110,10 +110,10 @@ class MetaInfoBrowser extends Component {
     this.props.api.getInfo().then(info => {
       const domain = info.domains.find(domain => domain.name === 'dft') // TODO deal with domains
       this.props.api.getMetaInfo(domain.metainfo.all_package).then(metainfos => {
-        const metainfoName = this.props.metainfo || domain.metainfo.root_sections[0]
+        const metainfoName = this.props.metainfo || domain.metainfo.root_section
         const definition = metainfos.get(metainfoName)
         this.setState({
-          domainRootSection: domain.metainfo.root_sections[0],
+          domainRootSection: domain.metainfo.root_section,
           allMetainfos: metainfos,
           selectedPackage: definition.package.name})
         this.update(definition.package.name)
diff --git a/nomad/app/api/info.py b/nomad/app/api/info.py
index 0630498d380f87faa7109ffb86f63b6df8d925ad..cd51dbe6f63eba9d572408be80fdf7448c5524a6 100644
--- a/nomad/app/api/info.py
+++ b/nomad/app/api/info.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ domain_quantity_model = api.model('DomainQuantity', {
 
 metainfo_model = api.model('Metainfo', {
     'all_package': fields.String(description='Name of the metainfo package that references all available packages, i.e. the complete metainfo.'),
-    'root_sections': fields.List(fields.String, description='Name of the topmost section, e.g. section_run for computational material science data.')
+    'root_section': fields.String(description='Name of the topmost section, e.g. section_run for computational material science data.')
 })
 
 domain_model = api.model('Domain', {