diff --git a/dashboard.sh b/dashboard.sh
index bcf8677..10a9e1e 100755
--- a/dashboard.sh
+++ b/dashboard.sh
@@ -260,6 +260,8 @@ else
 
                     if ($5 == "null") {
                         printf "{\"date\":\"%s\",\"module\":\"%s\",\"channels\":\"%s\",\"namespace\":\"%s\",\"value\":null}", $1, $2, $3, $4
+                    } else if ($5 ~ /^[0-9]+$/) {
+                        printf "{\"date\":\"%s\",\"module\":\"%s\",\"channels\":\"%s\",\"namespace\":\"%s\",\"value\":%s}", $1, $2, $3, $4, $5
                     } else {
                         printf "{\"date\":\"%s\",\"module\":\"%s\",\"channels\":\"%s\",\"namespace\":\"%s\",\"value\":\"%s\"}", $1, $2, $3, $4, $5
                     }
diff --git a/test/dashboard.bats b/test/dashboard.bats
index eb7871b..eadd9f7 100644
--- a/test/dashboard.bats
+++ b/test/dashboard.bats
@@ -51,6 +51,18 @@ teardown() {
   echo "$output" | jq -e '.[0] | has("date") and has("module") and has("value")' > /dev/null
 }
 
+@test "bugfix: json output should have correct numeric types" {
+  run ./dashboard.sh -f json
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  # Check that a known numeric value is a number, not a string
+  github_stars_value=$(echo "$output" | jq '.[] | select(.module == "github" and .channels == "stars" and .namespace == "repo.attogram.base") | .value')
+  [ "$(jq 'type' <<< "$github_stars_value")" = '"number"' ]
+
+  # Check that a known numeric value from another module is also a number
+  hackernews_karma_value=$(echo "$output" | jq '.[] | select(.module == "hackernews") | .value')
+  [ "$(jq 'type' <<< "$hackernews_karma_value")" = '"number"' ]
+}
+
 @test "integration: xml output should contain root element and metric data" {
   run ./dashboard.sh -f xml
   [ "$status" -eq 0 ]