diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/DocumentManager.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/DocumentManager.php
index 7b7841b6d1..9d3a710cbe 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/DocumentManager.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/DocumentManager.php
@@ -701,8 +701,10 @@ public function createDBRef($document, array $referenceMapping = null)
         $dbRef = array(
             '$ref' => $class->getCollection(),
             '$id'  => $class->getDatabaseIdentifierValue($id),
-            '$db'  => $this->getDocumentDatabase($class->name)->getName(),
         );
+        if ( empty($referenceMapping['partial'])) {
+            $dbRef['$db'] = $this->getDocumentDatabase($class->name)->getName();
+        }
 
         if ($class->hasDiscriminator()) {
             $dbRef[$class->discriminatorField] = $class->discriminatorValue;
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceMany.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceMany.php
index b12aa1c644..200d198b91 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceMany.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceMany.php
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ final class ReferenceMany extends AbstractField
     public $type = 'many';
     public $reference = true;
     public $simple = false;
+    public $partial = false;
     public $targetDocument;
     public $discriminatorField;
     public $discriminatorMap;
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceOne.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceOne.php
index a4914223e7..8731be6ad4 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceOne.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Mapping/Annotations/ReferenceOne.php
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ final class ReferenceOne extends AbstractField
     public $type = 'one';
     public $reference = true;
     public $simple = false;
+    public $partial = false;
     public $targetDocument;
     public $discriminatorField;
     public $discriminatorMap;
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Persisters/PersistenceBuilderTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Persisters/PersistenceBuilderTest.php
index 9810608c53..12dfffbdc9 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Persisters/PersistenceBuilderTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Persisters/PersistenceBuilderTest.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 use Documents\CmsComment;
 use Documents\Functional\SameCollection1;
 use Documents\Functional\SameCollection2;
+use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Mapping\Annotations as ODM;
 
 class PersistenceBuilderTest extends BaseTest
 {
@@ -296,4 +297,38 @@ public function testAdvancedQueriesOnReferenceWithDiscriminatorMap()
         $this->assertEquals($articleId, $singleResult->article->id);
         $this->assertEquals(1, $results->count(true));
     }
+
+    public function testReferencePartial()
+    {
+        $article = new CmsArticle();
+        $article->id = new \MongoId();
+
+        $this->dm->persist($article);
+        $this->dm->flush();
+
+        $test = new DocumentWithPartialReference();
+        $test->article = $article;
+        $this->dm->persist($test);
+
+        $this->uow->computeChangeSets();
+
+        $expectedData = array(
+            'article' => array(
+                '$id' => $test->article->id,
+                '$ref' => 'CmsArticle'
+            )
+        );
+
+        $this->assertDocumentInsertData($expectedData, $this->pb->prepareInsertData($test));
+    }
+}
+
+/** @ODM\Document */
+class DocumentWithPartialReference
+{
+    /** @ODM\Id */
+    public $id;
+
+    /** @ODM\ReferenceOne(targetDocument="Documents\CmsComment", partial="true") */
+    public $article;
 }