diff --git a/rest/src/main/groovy/whelk/rest/api/SearchUtils.groovy b/rest/src/main/groovy/whelk/rest/api/SearchUtils.groovy
index 3e8654c063..56f0dbbb0b 100644
--- a/rest/src/main/groovy/whelk/rest/api/SearchUtils.groovy
+++ b/rest/src/main/groovy/whelk/rest/api/SearchUtils.groovy
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import groovy.util.logging.Log4j2 as Log
 import whelk.Document
 import whelk.JsonLd
 import whelk.Whelk
-import whelk.component.DocumentNormalizer
 import whelk.exception.InvalidQueryException
 import whelk.exception.WhelkRuntimeException
 import whelk.search.ESQuery
@@ -831,6 +830,9 @@ class SearchUtils {
             int limit = slice['itemLimit']
             def connective = slice['connective']?.equals(OR.toString()) ? OR : AND
             statsfind[key] = ['sort': 'value', 'sortOrder': 'desc', 'size': limit, 'connective': connective]
+            if (slice['_matchMissing']) { // FIXME: what should it be called?
+                statsfind[key]['_matchMissing'] = slice['_matchMissing']
+            }
         }
         return statsfind
     }
diff --git a/whelk-core/src/main/groovy/whelk/search/ESQuery.groovy b/whelk-core/src/main/groovy/whelk/search/ESQuery.groovy
index f3cfd8dfcd..cbd2878e44 100644
--- a/whelk-core/src/main/groovy/whelk/search/ESQuery.groovy
+++ b/whelk-core/src/main/groovy/whelk/search/ESQuery.groovy
@@ -559,14 +559,14 @@ class ESQuery {
         }
 
         Set multiSelectable = multiSelectFacets(queryParameters)
+        Map<String, String> matchMissing = matchMissing(queryParameters)
         getOrGroups(notNested).each { Map<String, ?> m ->
             if (m.size() == 1 && m.keySet().first() in multiSelectable) {
-                multiSelectFilters[m.keySet().first()] = createBoolFilter(m)
+                multiSelectFilters[m.keySet().first()] = createBoolFilter(addMissingMatch(m, matchMissing))
             }
             else {
-                filters << createBoolFilter(m)
+                filters << createBoolFilter(addMissingMatch(m, matchMissing))
             }
-
         }
         notNestedGroupsForNot.each { m ->
             filtersForNot << createBoolFilter(m)
@@ -583,6 +583,14 @@ class ESQuery {
         return new Tuple2(allFilters ? [['bool': allFilters]] : null, multiSelectFilters)
     }
 
+    private static Map addMissingMatch(Map m, Map matchMissing) {
+        if (m.size() == 1 && m.keySet().first() in matchMissing) {
+            String field = matchMissing[m.keySet().first()]
+            m.put(EXISTS_PREFIX + field, ['false'])
+        }
+        return m
+    }
+
     private getPrefixIfExists(String key) {
         if (key.contains('.')) {
             return key.substring(0, key.indexOf('.'))
@@ -642,6 +650,7 @@ class ESQuery {
         if (p.size() > 0) {
             result.add(p)
         }
+
         return result
     }
 
@@ -836,6 +845,13 @@ class ESQuery {
         } as Set<String>
     }
 
+    @CompileStatic(TypeCheckingMode.SKIP)
+    static Map<String, String> matchMissing(Map queryParameters) {
+        getStatsRepr(queryParameters)
+                .findAll { key, value -> value['_matchMissing'] }
+                .collectEntries { key, value -> [key, value['_matchMissing'] as String]}
+    }
+
     @CompileStatic(TypeCheckingMode.SKIP)
     private static Map getStatsRepr(Map queryParameters) {
         mapper.readValue(queryParameters.get('_statsrepr')?[0] ?: '{}', Map)