diff --git a/frontend/src/app/components/publications-search-bar/publications-search-bar.component.ts b/frontend/src/app/components/publications-search-bar/publications-search-bar.component.ts
index ec362a6..ca2ff68 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/components/publications-search-bar/publications-search-bar.component.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/app/components/publications-search-bar/publications-search-bar.component.ts
@@ -24,8 +24,13 @@ export class PublicationsSearchBarComponent {
     });
 
     searchPublications(): void {
-        let queryParams = new HttpParams();
-        queryParams = queryParams.set('query', this.formGroup.controls.criteria.value ?? '');
-        this.router.navigate(['/publications'], {queryParams});
+        const query = this.formGroup.controls.criteria.value
+
+        if (query?.trim()) {
+            const queryParams = { 'query' : this.formGroup.controls.criteria.value ?? '' }
+            this.router.navigate(['/publications'], { queryParams });
+        } else {
+            this.router.navigate(['/home']);
+        }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/pages/search-publications/search-publications.component.ts b/frontend/src/app/pages/search-publications/search-publications.component.ts
index 89e99b4..92964b4 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/pages/search-publications/search-publications.component.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/app/pages/search-publications/search-publications.component.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ export class SearchPublicationsComponent implements OnInit, OnDestroy {
                 if (categoryId) {
                     this.searchPublicationsService.loadPublications(`category_id=${categoryId}`);
                 }
+                const query = params.get('query')
+                if (query) {
+                    this.searchPublicationsService.loadPublications(query);
+                }
             });
     }