diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/AddElemValue.java b/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/AddElemValue.java
index dd0992e6e40..1d3252d93ab 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/AddElemValue.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/AddElemValue.java
@@ -37,10 +37,11 @@
 public class AddElemValue {
     private final String stringValue;
     private final Element nodeValue;
+    private String mode = null;
 
     public AddElemValue(String stringValue) throws JDOMException, IOException {
         Element finalNodeVal = null;
-        String finalStringVal = stringValue.replaceAll("</?gn_(add|replace)>", "");
+        String finalStringVal = stringValue.replaceAll("</?gn_(add|create|replace)>", "");
         if (Xml.isXMLLike(finalStringVal)) {
             try {
                 finalNodeVal = Xml.loadString(stringValue, false);
@@ -55,11 +56,13 @@ public AddElemValue(String stringValue) throws JDOMException, IOException {
         }
         this.nodeValue = finalNodeVal;
         this.stringValue = finalStringVal;
+        this.mode = parseMode(stringValue);
     }
 
     public AddElemValue(Element nodeValue) {
         this.nodeValue = nodeValue;
         this.stringValue = null;
+        this.mode = parseMode(Xml.getString(nodeValue));
     }
 
     public boolean isXml() {
@@ -73,4 +76,23 @@ public String getStringValue() {
     public Element getNodeValue() {
         return nodeValue;
     }
+
+    private String parseMode(String value) {
+        if (value.startsWith("<gn_add>")) {
+            return EditLib.SpecialUpdateTags.ADD;
+        } else if (value.startsWith("<gn_create>")) {
+            return EditLib.SpecialUpdateTags.CREATE;
+        } else if (value.startsWith("<gn_replace_all>")) {
+            return EditLib.SpecialUpdateTags.REPLACE_ALL;
+        }  else if (value.startsWith("<gn_replace>")) {
+            return EditLib.SpecialUpdateTags.REPLACE;
+        } else if (value.startsWith("<gn_delete>")) {
+            return EditLib.SpecialUpdateTags.DELETE;
+        }
+        return EditLib.SpecialUpdateTags.ADD;
+    }
+
+    public String getMode() {
+        return mode;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java b/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java
index 873b9c3bcdf..04dc2f340d7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/EditLib.java
@@ -499,12 +499,8 @@ public boolean addElementOrFragmentFromXpath(Element metadataRecord,
         boolean isUpdated = false;
         try {
             final boolean isValueXml = value.isXml();
-            final boolean isDeleteMode = value.getNodeValue() != null &&
-                value.getNodeValue().getName()
-                    .startsWith(SpecialUpdateTags.DELETE);
-            final boolean isCreateMode = value.getNodeValue() != null &&
-                value.getNodeValue().getName()
-                    .equals(SpecialUpdateTags.CREATE);
+            final boolean isDeleteMode = SpecialUpdateTags.DELETE.equals(value.getMode());
+            final boolean isCreateMode = SpecialUpdateTags.CREATE.equals(value.getMode());
 
             LOGGER_ADD_ELEMENT.debug("Inserting at location {} the snippet or value {}", xpathProperty, value);
 
@@ -582,8 +578,7 @@ public boolean addElementOrFragmentFromXpath(Element metadataRecord,
                                 if (parent != null) {
                                     Element matchingNode = ((Element) propNode);
                                     // Remove only matching node
-                                    if (value.getNodeValue().getName()
-                                        .equals(SpecialUpdateTags.DELETE)) {
+                                    if (SpecialUpdateTags.DELETE.equals(value.getMode())) {
                                         parent.removeContent(parent.indexOf(matchingNode));
                                     }
                                 }
@@ -1819,7 +1814,7 @@ public interface SpecialUpdateTags {
          */
         String REPLACE = "gn_replace";
         /**
-         * Add to the target.
+         * Add to the target (or set value for an attribute).
          */
         String ADD = "gn_add";
         /**
diff --git a/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java b/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java
index 67ca12d6efb..075d0695fb0 100644
--- a/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java
+++ b/services/src/test/java/org/fao/geonet/services/metadata/BatchEditsServiceTest.java
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ public void testUpdateRecordElementInsertWithParentXpath() throws Exception {
         BatchEditParameter[] listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
             new BatchEditParameter(
                 "/mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution",
-                "<gn_add><mrd:distributor xmlns:mrd=\"http://standards.iso.org/iso/19115/-3/mrd/1.0\"/></gn_add>"
+                "<gn_create><mrd:distributor xmlns:mrd=\"http://standards.iso.org/iso/19115/-3/mrd/1.0\"/></gn_create>"
             )
         };
 
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ public void testUpdateRecordUpdateAttribute() throws Exception {
         final String uuid = "db07463b-6769-401e-944b-f22e2e3bcc26";
         BatchEditParameter[] listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
             new BatchEditParameter(
-                "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/mdb:MD_MetadataScope/mdb:resourceScope/@codeListValue",
+                "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/*/mdb:resourceScope/*/@codeListValue",
                 "newScope"
             )
         };
@@ -225,14 +225,14 @@ public void testUpdateRecordUpdateAttribute() throws Exception {
         Element xml = Xml.loadString(updatedRecord.getData(), false);
 
         List attr = org.fao.geonet.utils.Xml.selectNodes(xml,
-            "./mdb:metadataScope/mdb:MD_MetadataScope/mdb:resourceScope/@codeListValue",
+            "./mdb:metadataScope/*/mdb:resourceScope/*/@codeListValue",
             xml.getAdditionalNamespaces());
         Assert.assertEquals("newScope", ((Attribute) attr.get(0)).getValue());
 
 
         listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
             new BatchEditParameter(
-                "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/mdb:MD_MetadataScope/mdb:resourceScope/@codeListValue",
+                "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/*/mdb:resourceScope/*/@codeListValue",
                 "<gn_replace>anotherNewScope</gn_replace>"
             )
         };
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ public void testUpdateRecordUpdateAttribute() throws Exception {
         xml = Xml.loadString(updatedRecord.getData(), false);
 
         attr = org.fao.geonet.utils.Xml.selectNodes(xml,
-            "./mdb:metadataScope/mdb:MD_MetadataScope/mdb:resourceScope/@codeListValue",
+            "./mdb:metadataScope/*/mdb:resourceScope/*/@codeListValue",
             xml.getAdditionalNamespaces());
         Assert.assertEquals("anotherNewScope", ((Attribute) attr.get(0)).getValue());
     }
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ public void testUpdateRecordAddAttribute() throws Exception {
         BatchEditParameter[] listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
             new BatchEditParameter(
                 "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/mdb:MD_MetadataScope/mdb:resourceScope/@newAttribute",
-                "<gn_add>value</gn_add>"
+                "<gn_create>value</gn_create>"
             )
         };
 
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ public void testUpdateRecordAddAndDeleteAttributeWithNamespace() throws Exceptio
         BatchEditParameter[] listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
             new BatchEditParameter(
                 "/mdb:MD_Metadata/mdb:metadataScope/@gco:nilReason",
-                "<gn_add>withheld</gn_add>"
+                "<gn_create>withheld</gn_create>"
             )
         };
 
@@ -389,8 +389,8 @@ public void testUpdateRecordElement() throws Exception {
         // XPath has no match and same type as fragment, element is created
         BatchEditParameter[] listOfupdates = new BatchEditParameter[]{
             new BatchEditParameter(
-                "/mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution/mrd:distributor[1]",
-                "<gn_add><mrd:distributor xmlns:mrd=\"http://standards.iso.org/iso/19115/-3/mrd/1.0\"><mrd:MD_Distributor/></mrd:distributor></gn_add>"
+                "/mdb:distributionInfo/mrd:MD_Distribution/mrd:distributor",
+                "<gn_create><mrd:distributor xmlns:mrd=\"http://standards.iso.org/iso/19115/-3/mrd/1.0\"><mrd:MD_Distributor/></mrd:distributor></gn_create>"
             )
         };