diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Mdoc.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Mdoc.hs
index 74ae46491b51..f7ab9decd791 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Mdoc.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Mdoc.hs
@@ -1256,7 +1256,7 @@ referenceField :: PandocMonad m => T.Text -> ReferenceField -> MdocParser m ()
 referenceField m field = do
   macro m
   reference <- currentReference <$> getState
-  contents <- T.unwords <$> litsToText
+  contents <- stringify <$> litsAndDelimsToInlines
   eol
   modifyState $ \s -> s{currentReference = M.insertWith (++) field [contents] reference}
   return ()