diff --git a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/virtualshelves/shelves.tt b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/virtualshelves/shelves.tt
index 5bed02084e..8267123aa5 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/virtualshelves/shelves.tt
+++ b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/virtualshelves/shelves.tt
@@ -462,6 +462,8 @@
                             [% END %]
                             [% IF shelf.sortfield == "copyrightdate" %]
                                 <option value="copyrightdate" selected="selected">Copyrightdate</option>
+                            [% ELSIF shelf.sortfield == "publicationyear" %]
+                                <option value="publicationyear" selected="selected">Publication year</option>
                             [% ELSE %]
                                 <option value="copyrightdate">Copyrightdate</option>
                             [% END %]
diff --git a/virtualshelves/shelves.pl b/virtualshelves/shelves.pl
index 760e228dbd..f51f7d064b 100755
--- a/virtualshelves/shelves.pl
+++ b/virtualshelves/shelves.pl
@@ -123,7 +123,11 @@ if ( $op eq 'add_form' ) {
     if ($shelf) {
         $op = $referer;
         my $sortfield = $query->param('sortfield');
-        $sortfield = 'title' unless grep { $_ eq $sortfield } qw( title author copyrightdate itemcallnumber dateadded );
+        $sortfield = 'title'
+            unless grep { $_ eq $sortfield } qw( title author copyrightdate publicationyear itemcallnumber dateadded );
+        if ( $sortfield == 'copyrightdate' and C4::Context->preference('marcflavour') == 'UNIMARC' ) {
+            $sortfield = 'publicationyear';
+        }
         if ( $shelf->can_be_managed($loggedinuser) ) {
             $shelf->shelfname( scalar $query->param('shelfname') );
             $shelf->sortfield($sortfield);
@@ -291,7 +295,11 @@ if ( $op eq 'view' ) {
                 || $shelf->sortfield
                 || 'title';    # Passed in sorting overrides default sorting
             $sortfield = 'title'
-                unless grep { $_ eq $sortfield } qw( title author copyrightdate itemcallnumber dateadded );
+                unless grep { $_ eq $sortfield }
+                qw( title author copyrightdate publicationyear itemcallnumber dateadded );
+            if ( $sortfield == 'copyrightdate' and C4::Context->preference('marcflavour') == 'UNIMARC' ) {
+                $sortfield = 'publicationyear';
+            }
             my $direction = $query->param('direction') || 'asc';
             $direction = 'asc' if $direction ne 'asc' and $direction ne 'desc';
             my $rows;