diff --git a/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.spec.ts b/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.spec.ts
index 89875b3069..a28add2e30 100644
--- a/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.spec.ts
@@ -127,7 +127,8 @@ describe('BrowseService', () => {
   });
 
   describe('getBrowseEntriesFor and findList', () => {
-    const mockAuthorName = 'Donald Smith';
+    // should contain special characters such that url encoding can be tested as well
+    const mockAuthorName = 'Donald Smith & Sons';
 
     beforeEach(() => {
       requestService = getMockRequestService(getRequestEntry$(true));
@@ -152,7 +153,7 @@ describe('BrowseService', () => {
 
     describe('when findList is called with a valid browse definition id', () => {
       it('should call hrefOnlyDataService.findAllByHref with the expected href', () => {
-        const expected = browseDefinitions[1]._links.items.href + '?filterValue=' + mockAuthorName;
+        const expected = browseDefinitions[1]._links.items.href + '?filterValue=' + encodeURIComponent(mockAuthorName);
 
         scheduler.schedule(() => service.getBrowseItemsFor(mockAuthorName, new BrowseEntrySearchOptions(browseDefinitions[1].id)).subscribe());
         scheduler.flush();
diff --git a/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts b/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts
index 7e55d381a6..ffc6f313b9 100644
--- a/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts
+++ b/src/app/core/browse/browse.service.ts
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ export class BrowseService {
           args.push(`startsWith=${options.startsWith}`);
         }
         if (isNotEmpty(filterValue)) {
-          args.push(`filterValue=${filterValue}`);
+          args.push(`filterValue=${encodeURIComponent(filterValue)}`);
         }
         if (isNotEmpty(args)) {
           href = new URLCombiner(href, `?${args.join('&')}`).toString();