diff --git a/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Resources/views/admin/core_custom/custom-fields/mapping-taxonomy.html.twig b/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Resources/views/admin/core_custom/custom-fields/mapping-taxonomy.html.twig
index c16cc0fb4a2240aba2d03896a1ded4de7a8b5db8..e285bd76734476ced8a0764736f7a2b5290d0890 100644
--- a/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Resources/views/admin/core_custom/custom-fields/mapping-taxonomy.html.twig
+++ b/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Resources/views/admin/core_custom/custom-fields/mapping-taxonomy.html.twig
@@ -64,11 +64,6 @@
         multiple: true
     });
 
-    // on init, if the category selector is empty that mean that the old mapped category does not exist anymore
-    $(".category-selector").each(function() {
-      if (!$(this).val()) $(this).siblings('input').val('/');
-    });
-
     $('.clear-icon').click(function() {
       $(this).parent().parent().find('.category-selector:not(.select2-container)').val("").trigger('change');
     });
diff --git a/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Services/ElementImportMappingService.php b/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Services/ElementImportMappingService.php
index a81c4840399e78b28317b3c441723c2d00f7dcb5..6ede14f2f6e05133ef37b21716f59ff109b6a4ad 100644
--- a/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Services/ElementImportMappingService.php
+++ b/src/Biopen/GeoDirectoryBundle/Services/ElementImportMappingService.php
@@ -197,10 +197,8 @@ class ElementImportMappingService
       $taxonomyMapping[$key] = array_filter($value, function($el) use ($allOptionsIds) {
         return in_array($el, $allOptionsIds);
       });
-      if (count($taxonomyMapping[$key]) == 0) unset($taxonomyMapping[$key]);
     }
     $import->setTaxonomyMapping($taxonomyMapping);
-
     $allNewCategories = [];
     $this->createOptionsMappingTable();
     foreach($data as $row)
@@ -222,7 +220,7 @@ class ElementImportMappingService
             if ($value == '' && $this->createMissingOptions) $value = $this->createOption($category);
 
             $taxonomyMapping[$category] = [$value];
-            $import->setNewTaxonomyToMap(true);
+            if (!$value) $import->setNewTaxonomyToMap(true);
           }
           // create options for previously imported non mapped options
           if (array_key_exists($category, $taxonomyMapping)