diff --git a/bin/git-summary b/bin/git-summary
index 4acb19e..d781e54 100755
--- a/bin/git-summary
+++ b/bin/git-summary
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ cd "$(git root)" || { echo "Can't cd to top level directory";exit 1; }
 
 SUMMARY_BY_LINE=
 DEDUP_BY_EMAIL=
+MERGES_ARG=
 for arg in "$@"; do
     case "$arg" in
         --line)
@@ -13,6 +14,9 @@ for arg in "$@"; do
         --dedup-by-email)
             DEDUP_BY_EMAIL=1
             ;;
+        --no-merges)
+            MERGES_ARG="--no-merges"
+            ;;
         -*)
             >&2 echo "unknown argument $arg found"
             exit 1
@@ -42,7 +46,7 @@ project=${PWD##*/}
 date() {
   # the $1 can be empty
   # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-  git log --pretty='format: %ai' $1 | cut -d ' ' -f 2
+  git log $MERGES_ARG --pretty='format: %ai' $1 | cut -d ' ' -f 2
 }
 
 #
@@ -63,7 +67,7 @@ active_days() {
 
 commit_count() {
   # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-  git log --oneline $commit | wc -l | tr -d ' '
+  git log $MERGES_ARG --oneline $commit | wc -l | tr -d ' '
 }
 
 #
@@ -193,9 +197,9 @@ else
   if [ -n "$DEDUP_BY_EMAIL" ]; then
     # the $commit can be empty
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-    git shortlog -n -s -e $commit | dedup_by_email | format_authors
+    git shortlog $MERGES_ARG -n -s -e $commit | dedup_by_email | format_authors
   else
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-    git shortlog -n -s $commit | format_authors
+    git shortlog $MERGES_ARG -n -s $commit | format_authors
   fi
 fi