diff --git a/arkindex/documents/api/search.py b/arkindex/documents/api/search.py
index 436536e2a9c300ef145e3c1abf60666b3ffe6e6d..6486d6d07a24f956aad063a53605a61c6eb41a9f 100644
--- a/arkindex/documents/api/search.py
+++ b/arkindex/documents/api/search.py
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ class ElementSearch(SearchAPIView):
             ),
         )
         if query:
-            elastic_query |= Q('wildcard', references='*{}*'.format(query.lower()))
+            elastic_query |= Q('simple_query_string', fields=['references'], query=query.lower())
+            # elastic_query |= Q('wildcard', references='*{}*'.format(query.lower()))
 
         search = search.query(elastic_query)
         return search