diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/join_dependency.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/join_dependency.rb
index d3ceecb09097e..93b088790e5c9 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/join_dependency.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/associations/join_dependency.rb
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ def instantiate(rows)
         records
       end
 
+      protected
+
       def remove_duplicate_results!(base, records, associations)
         case associations
         when Symbol, String
@@ -88,8 +90,6 @@ def remove_duplicate_results!(base, records, associations)
         end
       end
 
-      protected
-
       def cache_joined_association(association)
         associations = []
         parent = association.parent