diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/util/SubmissionConfigReader.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/util/SubmissionConfigReader.java
index 1c91b40b97..78be2bd4a4 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/util/SubmissionConfigReader.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/util/SubmissionConfigReader.java
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@ import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.dspace.content.Collection;
 import org.dspace.content.Community;
 import org.dspace.content.DSpaceObject;
+import org.dspace.content.Item;
 import org.dspace.content.factory.ContentServiceFactory;
 import org.dspace.content.service.CollectionService;
 import org.dspace.core.Context;
-import org.dspace.discovery.SearchServiceException;
 import org.dspace.handle.factory.HandleServiceFactory;
 import org.dspace.services.factory.DSpaceServicesFactory;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
@@ -99,6 +99,13 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
      */
     private Map<String, String> communityToSubmissionConfig = null;
 
+    /**
+     * Hashmap which stores which submission process configuration is used by
+     * which entityType, computed from the item submission config file
+     * (specifically, the 'submission-map' tag)
+     */
+    private Map<String, String> entityTypeToSubmissionConfig = null;
+
     /**
      * Reference to the global submission step definitions defined in the
      * "step-definitions" section
@@ -137,6 +144,7 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
     public void reload() throws SubmissionConfigReaderException {
         collectionToSubmissionConfig = null;
         communityToSubmissionConfig = null;
+        entityTypeToSubmissionConfig = null;
         stepDefns = null;
         submitDefns = null;
         buildInputs(configDir + SUBMIT_DEF_FILE_PREFIX + SUBMIT_DEF_FILE_SUFFIX);
@@ -156,6 +164,7 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
     private void buildInputs(String fileName) throws SubmissionConfigReaderException {
         collectionToSubmissionConfig = new HashMap<String, String>();
         communityToSubmissionConfig = new HashMap<String, String>();
+        entityTypeToSubmissionConfig = new HashMap<String, String>();
         submitDefns = new LinkedHashMap<String, List<Map<String, String>>>();
 
         String uri = "file:" + new File(fileName).getAbsolutePath();
@@ -173,9 +182,6 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
         } catch (FactoryConfigurationError fe) {
             throw new SubmissionConfigReaderException(
                 "Cannot create Item Submission Configuration parser", fe);
-        } catch (SearchServiceException se) {
-            throw new SubmissionConfigReaderException(
-                "Cannot perform a discovery search for Item Submission Configuration", se);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new SubmissionConfigReaderException(
                 "Error creating Item Submission Configuration: " + e);
@@ -238,6 +244,16 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
                 return getSubmissionConfigByName(submitName);
             }
 
+            // get the name of the submission process based on the entity type of this collections
+            if (!entityTypeToSubmissionConfig.isEmpty()) {
+                String entityType = collectionService.getMetadataFirstValue(col, "dspace", "entity", "type", Item.ANY);
+                submitName = entityTypeToSubmissionConfig
+                    .get(entityType);
+                if (submitName != null) {
+                    return getSubmissionConfigByName(submitName);
+                }
+            }
+
             if (!communityToSubmissionConfig.isEmpty()) {
                 try {
                     List<Community> communities = col.getCommunities();
@@ -358,7 +374,7 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
      * should correspond to the collection-form maps, the form definitions, and
      * the display/storage word pairs.
      */
-    private void doNodes(Node n) throws SAXException, SearchServiceException, SubmissionConfigReaderException {
+    private void doNodes(Node n) throws SAXException, SubmissionConfigReaderException {
         if (n == null) {
             return;
         }
@@ -405,9 +421,7 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
      * the collection handle and item submission name, put name in hashmap keyed
      * by the collection handle.
      */
-    private void processMap(Node e) throws SAXException, SearchServiceException {
-        // create a context
-        Context context = new Context();
+    private void processMap(Node e) throws SAXException {
 
         NodeList nl = e.getChildNodes();
         int len = nl.getLength();
@@ -428,7 +442,7 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
                     throw new SAXException(
                         "name-map element is missing submission-name attribute in 'item-submission.xml'");
                 }
-                if (content != null && content.length() > 0) {
+                if (content != null && !content.isEmpty()) {
                     throw new SAXException(
                         "name-map element has content in 'item-submission.xml', it should be empty.");
                 }
@@ -437,12 +451,7 @@ public class SubmissionConfigReader {
                 } else if (communityId != null) {
                     communityToSubmissionConfig.put(communityId, value);
                 } else {
-                    // get all collections for this entity-type
-                    List<Collection> collections = collectionService.findAllCollectionsByEntityType( context,
-                                    entityType);
-                    for (Collection collection : collections) {
-                        collectionToSubmissionConfig.putIfAbsent(collection.getHandle(), value);
-                    }
+                    entityTypeToSubmissionConfig.put(entityType, value);
                 }
             } // ignore any child node that isn't a "name-map"
         }