diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/ChoiceAuthorityServiceImpl.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/ChoiceAuthorityServiceImpl.java
index 4cac1da314..f2bc4f0be0 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/ChoiceAuthorityServiceImpl.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/content/authority/ChoiceAuthorityServiceImpl.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.ArrayUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.dspace.app.util.DCInput;
@@ -557,6 +558,15 @@ public final class ChoiceAuthorityServiceImpl implements ChoiceAuthorityService
             init();
             ChoiceAuthority source = this.getChoiceAuthorityByAuthorityName(nameVocab);
             if (source != null && source instanceof DSpaceControlledVocabulary) {
+
+                // First, check if this vocabulary index is disabled
+                String[] vocabulariesDisabled = configurationService
+                    .getArrayProperty("webui.browse.vocabularies.disabled");
+                if (vocabulariesDisabled != null && ArrayUtils.contains(vocabulariesDisabled, nameVocab)) {
+                    // Discard this vocabulary browse index
+                    return null;
+                }
+
                 Set<String> metadataFields = new HashSet<>();
                 Map<String, List<String>> formsToFields = this.authoritiesFormDefinitions.get(nameVocab);
                 for (Map.Entry<String, List<String>> formToField : formsToFields.entrySet()) {
diff --git a/dspace/config/dspace.cfg b/dspace/config/dspace.cfg
index cafd37931f..61d6fb589a 100644
--- a/dspace/config/dspace.cfg
+++ b/dspace/config/dspace.cfg
@@ -1158,6 +1158,11 @@ webui.browse.index.4 = subject:metadata:dc.subject.*:text
 ## example of authority-controlled browse category - see authority control config
 #webui.browse.index.5 = lcAuthor:metadataAuthority:dc.contributor.author:authority
 
+# By default, browse hierarchical indexes are created based on the used controlled
+# vocabularies in the submission forms. These could be disabled adding the name of
+# the vocabularies to exclude in this comma-separated property:
+# webui.browse.vocabularies.disabled = srsc
+
 # Enable/Disable tag cloud in browsing.
 # webui.browse.index.tagcloud.<n> = true | false
 # where n is the index number from the above options