diff --git a/springwolf-asyncapi/src/main/java/io/github/stavshamir/springwolf/asyncapi/v3/model/channel/message/MessageReference.java b/springwolf-asyncapi/src/main/java/io/github/stavshamir/springwolf/asyncapi/v3/model/channel/message/MessageReference.java
index a182b071b..3141f3327 100644
--- a/springwolf-asyncapi/src/main/java/io/github/stavshamir/springwolf/asyncapi/v3/model/channel/message/MessageReference.java
+++ b/springwolf-asyncapi/src/main/java/io/github/stavshamir/springwolf/asyncapi/v3/model/channel/message/MessageReference.java
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ public static MessageReference toSchema(String schemaName) {
     }
 
     public static String extractRefName(String ref) {
-        return ref.substring(ref.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
+        if(ref.contains("/")) {
+            return ref.substring(ref.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
+        }
+        return ref;
     }
 }