diff --git a/C4/Context.pm b/C4/Context.pm
index 3819529dc2..35c5025745 100644
--- a/C4/Context.pm
+++ b/C4/Context.pm
@@ -499,6 +499,38 @@ sub csv_delimiter {
     return $delimiter;
 }
 
+=head2 default_catalog_sort_by
+
+    $delimiter = C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by;
+
+    Returns default sort by for catalog search.
+    For relevance no sort order is used.
+
+    For staff interface, depends on system preferences 'defaultSortField' and 'defaultSortOrder'.
+    For OPAC interface, depends on system preferences 'OPACdefaultSortField' and 'OPACdefaultSortOrder'.
+
+=cut
+
+sub default_catalog_sort_by {
+    my $self = shift;
+    my ( $sort_by, $sort_field, $sort_order );
+    if ( C4::Context->interface eq 'opac' ) {
+        $sort_field = C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField');
+        $sort_order = C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder');
+    } else {
+        $sort_field = C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField');
+        $sort_order = C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder');
+    }
+    if ( $sort_field && $sort_order ) {
+        if ( $sort_field eq 'relevance' ) {
+            $sort_by = $sort_field;
+        } else {
+            $sort_by = $sort_field . '_' . $sort_order;
+        }
+    }
+    return $sort_by;
+}
+
 =head2 Zconn
 
   $Zconn = C4::Context->Zconn
diff --git a/catalogue/search.pl b/catalogue/search.pl
index bf225911ef..f3b5d7bdbc 100755
--- a/catalogue/search.pl
+++ b/catalogue/search.pl
@@ -259,6 +259,8 @@ $template->param(advancedsearchesloop => $advancedsearchesloop);
 
 $template->param( searchid => scalar $cgi->param('searchid'), );
 
+my $default_sort_by = C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by;
+
 # The following should only be loaded if we're bringing up the advanced search template
 if ( $template_type eq 'advsearch' ) {
 
@@ -322,12 +324,8 @@ if ( $template_type eq 'advsearch' ) {
     $template->param(outer_sup_servers_loop => $secondary_servers_loop,);
 
     # set the default sorting
-    if (   C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField')
-        && C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder') ) {
-        my $default_sort_by =
-            C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField') . '_'
-          . C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder');
-        $template->param( sort_by => $default_sort_by  );
+    if ($default_sort_by) {
+        $template->param( sort_by => $default_sort_by );
     }
 
     $template->param(uc(C4::Context->preference("marcflavour")) =>1 );
@@ -361,14 +359,6 @@ my $params = $cgi->Vars;
 # sort by is used to sort the query
 # in theory can have more than one but generally there's just one
 my @sort_by;
-my $default_sort_by;
-if (   C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField')
-    && C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder') ) {
-    $default_sort_by =
-        C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField') . '_'
-      . C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder');
-}
-
 @sort_by = $cgi->multi_param('sort_by');
 $sort_by[0] = $default_sort_by unless $sort_by[0];
 foreach my $sort (@sort_by) {
diff --git a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/catalogue/results.tt b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/catalogue/results.tt
index adf0168650..1d7fae8377 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/catalogue/results.tt
+++ b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/catalogue/results.tt
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@
                                     Sort <span class="caret"></span>
                                 </button>
                                 <ul class="dropdown-menu">
-                                    [% IF ( sort_by == "relevance_dsc" ) %]
+                                    [% IF ( sort_by == "relevance" ) %]
                                         <li><a href="/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/search.pl?count=[% results_per_page | uri %]&sort_by=relevance[% PROCESS sort_search_query %]"><i class="fa fa-check"></i> Relevance</a></li>
                                     [% ELSE %]
                                         <li><a href="/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/search.pl?count=[% results_per_page | uri %]&sort_by=relevance[% PROCESS sort_search_query %]">Relevance</a></li>
diff --git a/opac/opac-detail.pl b/opac/opac-detail.pl
index 98c4f94a8c..3c2b8df6ec 100755
--- a/opac/opac-detail.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-detail.pl
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ if ($session->param('busc')) {
         @servers = ("biblioserver") unless (@servers);
 
         my ($default_sort_by, @sort_by);
-        $default_sort_by = C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField')."_".C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder') if (C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField') && C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder'));
+        $default_sort_by = C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by;
         @sort_by = @{$arrParamsBusc->{'sort_by'}} if $arrParamsBusc->{'sort_by'};
         $sort_by[0] = $default_sort_by if !$sort_by[0] && defined($default_sort_by);
         my ($error, $results_hashref, $facets);
diff --git a/opac/opac-search.pl b/opac/opac-search.pl
index 65904676d1..958f4ca623 100755
--- a/opac/opac-search.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-search.pl
@@ -304,6 +304,8 @@ foreach my $advanced_srch_type (@advanced_search_types) {
 }
 $template->param(advancedsearchesloop => \@advancedsearchesloop);
 
+my $default_sort_by = C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by;
+
 # The following should only be loaded if we're bringing up the advanced search template
 if ( $template_type && $template_type eq 'advsearch' ) {
     # load the servers (used for searching -- to do federated searching, etc.)
@@ -314,11 +316,7 @@ if ( $template_type && $template_type eq 'advsearch' ) {
     $template->param(outer_sup_servers_loop => $secondary_servers_loop,);
 
     # set the default sorting
-    if (   C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField')
-        && C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder') ) {
-        my $default_sort_by =
-            C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField') . '_'
-          . C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder');
+    if ($default_sort_by) {
         $template->param( sort_by => $default_sort_by );
     }
 
@@ -378,14 +376,6 @@ for (keys %$params) {
 # sort by is used to sort the query
 # in theory can have more than one but generally there's just one
 my @sort_by;
-my $default_sort_by;
-if (   C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField')
-    && C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder') ) {
-    $default_sort_by =
-        C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField') . '_'
-      . C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder');
-}
-
 my @allowed_sortby = qw /acqdate_asc acqdate_dsc author_az author_za call_number_asc call_number_dsc popularity_asc popularity_dsc pubdate_asc pubdate_dsc relevance title_az title_za/; 
 @sort_by = $cgi->multi_param('sort_by');
 $sort_by[0] = $default_sort_by if !$sort_by[0] && defined($default_sort_by);
diff --git a/t/Context.t b/t/Context.t
index cf4a4b6036..b2091f0f96 100755
--- a/t/Context.t
+++ b/t/Context.t
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 use Modern::Perl;
 
 use DBI;
-use Test::More tests => 33;
+use Test::More tests => 34;
 use Test::MockModule;
 use Test::Warn;
 use YAML::XS;
@@ -80,6 +80,36 @@ subtest 'csv_delimiter() tests' => sub {
     is( C4::Context->csv_delimiter, "\t", "csv_delimiter returns '\t' if system preference CSVDelimiter is tabulation" );
 };
 
+subtest 'default_catalog_sort_by() tests' => sub {
+
+    plan tests => 5;
+
+    my $context = Test::MockModule->new( 'C4::Context' );
+
+    $context->mock( 'interface', 'intranet' );
+
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'defaultSortField', undef );
+    is( C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by, undef, "default_catalog_sort_by() returns undef if system preference defaultSortField is undefined" );
+
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'defaultSortField', 'title' );
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'defaultSortOrder', 'az' );
+    is( C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by, 'title_az', "default_catalog_sort_by() returns concatenation of system preferences defaultSortField and defaultSortOrder" );
+
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'defaultSortField', 'relevance' );
+    is( C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by, 'relevance', "default_catalog_sort_by() returns only system preference defaultSortField if it is relevance" );
+
+    $context->mock( 'interface', 'opac' );
+
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'OPACdefaultSortField', 'pubdate' );
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'OPACdefaultSortOrder', 'desc' );
+    is( C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by, 'pubdate_desc', "default_catalog_sort_by() returns concatenation of system preferences OPACdefaultSortField and OPACdefaultSortOrder" );
+
+    t::lib::Mocks::mock_preference( 'OPACdefaultSortField', 'relevance' );
+    is( C4::Context->default_catalog_sort_by, 'relevance', "default_catalog_sort_by() returns only system preference OPACdefaultSortField if it is relevance" );
+
+    $context->unmock( 'interface' );
+};
+
 my $context = Test::MockModule->new('C4::Context');
 my $userenv = {};