diff --git a/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-webapp/src/main/webapp/themes/Mirage/lib/xsl/aspect/artifactbrowser/item-view.xsl b/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-webapp/src/main/webapp/themes/Mirage/lib/xsl/aspect/artifactbrowser/item-view.xsl
index 0e98416595..33acdcc071 100644
--- a/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-webapp/src/main/webapp/themes/Mirage/lib/xsl/aspect/artifactbrowser/item-view.xsl
+++ b/dspace-xmlui/dspace-xmlui-webapp/src/main/webapp/themes/Mirage/lib/xsl/aspect/artifactbrowser/item-view.xsl
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@
           </xsl:when>
 
           <!-- Abstract row -->
-          <xsl:when test="$clause = 5 and (dim:field[@element='description' and @qualifier='abstract'])">
+          <xsl:when test="$clause = 5 and (dim:field[@element='description' and @qualifier='abstract' and descendant::text()])">
                     <div class="simple-item-view-description">
 	                <h3><i18n:text>xmlui.dri2xhtml.METS-1.0.item-abstract</i18n:text>:</h3>
 	                <div>