diff --git a/dspace-xmlui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/statistics/Navigation.java b/dspace-xmlui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/statistics/Navigation.java
index e8ac32a6efcd..4f05d84a5090 100644
--- a/dspace-xmlui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/statistics/Navigation.java
+++ b/dspace-xmlui/src/main/java/org/dspace/app/xmlui/aspect/statistics/Navigation.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import org.apache.cocoon.caching.CacheableProcessingComponent;
 import org.apache.excalibur.source.SourceValidity;
 import org.apache.excalibur.source.impl.validity.NOPValidity;
+import org.dspace.core.ConfigurationManager;
 import org.dspace.core.Constants;
 import org.dspace.core.Context;
 import org.dspace.services.ConfigurationService;
@@ -33,6 +34,8 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.sql.SQLException;
 
+import static org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils.isNotBlank;
+
 /**
  * Navigation Elements for viewing statistics related to Items.
  *
@@ -113,12 +116,15 @@ public void addOptions(Options options) throws SAXException, WingException, UIEx
             }
         }
 
-        // ufal - this is called only for authorised with admin rights (e.g., admin rights to a community/collection)
-        if(dso != null && dso.getHandle() != null){
-            statistics.addItemXref(contextPath + "/handle/" + dso.getHandle() + "/statistics-google", T_statistics_ga_head);
-        }else {
-            statistics.addItemXref(contextPath + "/statistics-google", T_statistics_ga_head);
-		}
+        //show ga link only if we have a key file set
+        if(isNotBlank(ConfigurationManager.getProperty("lr", "lr.ga.analytics.key.file"))) {
+            // ufal - this is called only for authorised with admin rights (e.g., admin rights to a community/collection)
+            if (dso != null && dso.getHandle() != null) {
+                statistics.addItemXref(contextPath + "/handle/" + dso.getHandle() + "/statistics-google", T_statistics_ga_head);
+            } else {
+                statistics.addItemXref(contextPath + "/statistics-google", T_statistics_ga_head);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     protected boolean displayStatsType(Context context, String type, DSpaceObject dso) throws SQLException {