diff --git a/.github/workflows/zenodo.yml b/.github/workflows/zenodo.yml
index e6b71af33..42f43640f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/zenodo.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/zenodo.yml
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         make generate-changes-html VERSION=${{ github.ref_name }} || true
         echo "ZENODO_DESCRIPTION=$(cat ${{ env.CHANGES_HTML }} | tr -d '\n' || echo '')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        cat ${{ env.CHANGES_HTML }}
 
     - name: Run Zenodo Publish
       id: deploy_zenodo
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4ae91606d..d2d81fef7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -754,10 +754,10 @@ bump:  ## bump version using VERSION specified as user input [make VERSION=<x.y.
 	@-bash -c '$(CONDA_CMD) bump2version $(BUMP_XARGS) --new-version "${VERSION}" patch;'
 
 .PHONY: extract-changes
-extract-changes:	## uses the specified VERSION to extract its sub-section in CHANGES.rst
+extract-changes: mkdir-reports	## uses the specified VERSION to extract its sub-section in CHANGES.rst
 	@[ "${VERSION}" ] || ( echo ">> 'VERSION' is not set. It is required to extract changes."; exit 1 )
 	@-echo "Extracting changes for ${VERSION} ..."
-	@bash -c '\
+	bash -c '\
 		START=$$(cat "$(APP_ROOT)/CHANGES.rst" | grep -n "crim-ca/weaver/tree/${VERSION}" | cut -d ":" -f 1); \
 		STOP=$$(tail -n +$$(($${START:-0} + 2)) "$(APP_ROOT)/CHANGES.rst" \
 			| grep -n ".. _changes" \
@@ -765,18 +765,26 @@ extract-changes:	## uses the specified VERSION to extract its sub-section in CHA
 		tail -n +$${START:-0} "$(APP_ROOT)/CHANGES.rst" | head -n $${STOP:--1} \
 			> "$(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.rst" \
 	'
+	@-echo "Generated changes: $(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.rst"
 
+# note:
+#	some text must be inserted before and between the first 'version heading' and the 'changes' sub-heading
+#	otherwise headers levels are not parsed correctly (they are considered sections all using H1)
+#	therefore, inject the contents needed to parse as desired, and remove the temp HTML content afterwards
 .PHONY: generate-changes-html
 generate-changes-html: extract-changes	## extract CHANGES.rst section as HTML using the specified VERSION
 	@[ "${VERSION}" ] || ( echo ">> 'VERSION' is not set. It is required to extract changes."; exit 1 )
-	@-echo "Checking necessary Sphinx dependency ..."
-	@pip show sphinx >/dev/null || bash -c '$(CONDA_CMD) $(MAKE) -C "$(APP_ROOT)" install-doc'
+	@-echo "Checking necessary documentation dependency ..."
+	@which rst2html >/dev/null || pip install docutils
 	@-echo "Converting changes for ${VERSION} ..."
 	@echo '%(body)s' > "$(REPORTS_DIR)/html-body-template.txt"
+	@sed -i -e 's|Changes:|\\ \n\nChanges:|' "$(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.rst"
+	@sed -i -e "s|^\`${VERSION}|   \n###\n\n\\ \n\n\`${VERSION}|" "$(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.rst"
 	@rst2html \
 		--template "$(REPORTS_DIR)/html-body-template.txt" \
 		"$(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.rst" "$(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.html"
-	@-echo "Generates changes: $(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.html"
+	@sed -i -e 's|<p>###</p>||' "$(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.html"
+	@-echo "Generated changes: $(REPORTS_DIR)/CHANGES_${VERSION}.html"
 
 .PHONY: generate-archive
 generate-archive:	## generate ZIP and TAR.GZ archives using current contents
@@ -789,6 +797,7 @@ generate-archive:	## generate ZIP and TAR.GZ archives using current contents
 		--exclude-vcs-ignores \
 		--exclude=*.zip \
 		--exclude=*.tar.gz \
+		--exclude="$(APP_NAME)-$(APP_VERSION).tar.gz" \
 		-cvzf "$(APP_NAME)-$(APP_VERSION).tar.gz" \
 		--transform 's,^\.,$(APP_NAME)-$(APP_VERSION),' \
 		.
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 9113ba3ed..3eab195dc 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -116,9 +116,9 @@ for each process.
     :target: https://app.fossa.com/projects/git%2Bgithub.com%2Fcrim-ca%2Fweaver?ref=badge_shield&issueType=license
     :alt: FOSSA Status
 
-.. |citation-zenodo| image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.14210718.svg
+.. |citation-zenodo| image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.14210717.svg
     :alt: Zenodo DOI
-    :target: https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.14210718
+    :target: https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.14210717
 
 .. |citation-cff| image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/citation-cff-blue
     :alt: CFF