diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java
index d2672347f..48afcb9fa 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriter.java
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
  * @author Robert Kasanicky
  * @author Michael Minella
  * @author Parikshit Dutta
+ * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  */
 public class StaxEventItemWriter<T> extends AbstractItemStreamItemWriter<T> implements
 ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
@@ -635,7 +636,7 @@ ResourceAwareItemWriterItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
 		XMLEventFactory factory = createXmlEventFactory();
 
 		// write start document
-		if (getStandalone()==null) {
+		if (getStandalone() == null) {
 			writer.add(factory.createStartDocument(getEncoding(), getVersion()));
 		}
 		else {
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilder.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilder.java
index 0a4a531ab..02050a7b2 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilder.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
  *
  * @author Michael Minella
  * @author Parikshit Dutta
+ * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  * @since 4.0
  * @see StaxEventItemWriter
  */
@@ -200,7 +201,7 @@ public class StaxEventItemWriterBuilder<T> {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Standalone document declaration for the output document. Defaults to null.
+	 * Standalone document declaration for the output document. Defaults to {@code null}.
 	 *
 	 * @param standalone Boolean standalone document declaration
 	 * @return the current instance of the builder
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java
index 047711ada..c315db4c4 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/StaxEventItemWriterTests.java
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
  * Tests for {@link StaxEventItemWriter}.
  *
  * @author Parikshit Dutta
+ * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  */
 public class StaxEventItemWriterTests {
 
@@ -1024,13 +1025,7 @@ public class StaxEventItemWriterTests {
 	private String getOutputFileContent(String encoding, boolean discardHeader) throws IOException {
 		String value = FileUtils.readFileToString(resource.getFile(), encoding);
 		if (discardHeader) {
-			// standalone is omitted if not explicitly set, meaning it will be 'yes'/'no' or no standalone attribute
-			if (value.contains("standalone")) {
-				boolean standalone = value.contains("standalone='yes'");
-				return value.replace("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='" + encoding + "' " +
-						(standalone ? "standalone='yes'" : "standalone='no'") + "?>", "");
-			}
-			return value.replace("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='" + encoding + "'?>", "");
+			return value.replaceFirst("<\\?xml.*?\\?>", "");
 		}
 		return value;
 	}
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests.java
index 0ac218def..52b800d59 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/xml/builder/StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 /**
  * @author Michael Minella
  * @author Parikshit Dutta
+ * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  */
 public class StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests {
 
@@ -240,7 +241,7 @@ public class StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests {
 		staxEventItemWriter.write(this.items);
 		staxEventItemWriter.close();
 
-		String output = getOutputFileContent(staxEventItemWriter.getEncoding(), false);
+		String output = getOutputFileContent(staxEventItemWriter.getEncoding());
 		assertFalse(output.contains("standalone="));
 	}
 
@@ -260,7 +261,7 @@ public class StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests {
 		staxEventItemWriter.write(this.items);
 		staxEventItemWriter.close();
 
-		String output = getOutputFileContent(staxEventItemWriter.getEncoding(), false);
+		String output = getOutputFileContent(staxEventItemWriter.getEncoding());
 		assertTrue(output.contains("standalone='yes'"));
 	}
 
@@ -280,31 +281,16 @@ public class StaxEventItemWriterBuilderTests {
 		staxEventItemWriter.write(this.items);
 		staxEventItemWriter.close();
 
-		String output = getOutputFileContent(staxEventItemWriter.getEncoding(), false);
+		String output = getOutputFileContent(staxEventItemWriter.getEncoding());
 		assertTrue(output.contains("standalone='no'"));
 	}
 
-	private String getOutputFileContent(String encoding) throws IOException {
-		return getOutputFileContent(encoding, true);
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * @param encoding the encoding
-	 * @param discardHeader the flag to strip XML header
 	 * @return output file content as String
 	 */
-	private String getOutputFileContent(String encoding, boolean discardHeader) throws IOException {
-		String value = FileUtils.readFileToString(resource.getFile(), encoding);
-		if (discardHeader) {
-			// standalone is omitted if not explicitly set, meaning it will be 'yes'/'no' or no standalone attribute
-			if (value.contains("standalone")) {
-				boolean standalone = value.contains("standalone='yes'");
-				return value.replace("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='" + encoding + "' " +
-						(standalone ? "standalone='yes'" : "standalone='no'") + "?>", "");
-			}
-			return value.replace("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='" + encoding + "'?>", "");
-		}
-		return value;
+	private String getOutputFileContent(String encoding) throws IOException {
+		return FileUtils.readFileToString(resource.getFile(), encoding);
 	}
 
 	@XmlRootElement(name="item", namespace="https://www.springframework.org/test")