diff --git a/src/caosdb/apiutils.py b/src/caosdb/apiutils.py
index 2d4a4a0f171ed7f97252efb99b7a55758720fdf5..73074efc3057e0548c5abfd56ef3cf1ac9e9bf47 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/apiutils.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/apiutils.py
@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@ from collections.abc import Iterable
 from subprocess import call
 
 from caosdb.common.datatype import (BOOLEAN, DATETIME, DOUBLE, FILE, INTEGER,
-                                    REFERENCE, TEXT)
+                                    REFERENCE, TEXT, is_reference)
 from caosdb.common.models import (Container, Entity, File, Property, Query,
                                   Record, RecordType, get_config,
-                                  execute_query, is_reference)
+                                  execute_query)
 
 
 def new_record(record_type, name=None, description=None,