diff --git a/modules/swagger-core/src/main/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilter.java b/modules/swagger-core/src/main/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilter.java
index c4f5b6d2af..f930ff9a64 100755
--- a/modules/swagger-core/src/main/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilter.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-core/src/main/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilter.java
@@ -308,6 +308,8 @@ private void addSchemaRef(Schema schema, Set<String> referencedDefinitions) {
         if (schema instanceof ArraySchema &&
                 ((ArraySchema) schema).getItems() != null) {
             addSchemaRef(((ArraySchema) schema).getItems(), referencedDefinitions);
+        } else if (schema.getTypes() != null && schema.getTypes().contains("array") && schema.getItems() != null) {
+            addSchemaRef(schema.getItems(), referencedDefinitions);
         } else if (schema instanceof ComposedSchema) {
             ComposedSchema composedSchema = (ComposedSchema) schema;
             if (composedSchema.getAllOf() != null) {
diff --git a/modules/swagger-core/src/test/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilterTest.java b/modules/swagger-core/src/test/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilterTest.java
index 3065f48c45..9ffb7c687e 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-core/src/test/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilterTest.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-core/src/test/java/io/swagger/v3/core/filter/SpecFilterTest.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import io.swagger.v3.core.filter.resources.ReplaceGetOperationsFilter;
 import io.swagger.v3.core.matchers.SerializationMatchers;
 import io.swagger.v3.core.util.Json;
+import io.swagger.v3.core.util.Json31;
 import io.swagger.v3.core.util.ResourceUtils;
 import io.swagger.v3.oas.models.Components;
 import io.swagger.v3.oas.models.OpenAPI;
@@ -37,6 +38,7 @@
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertNotEquals;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.testng.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.testng.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.testng.Assert.fail;
 
 public class SpecFilterTest {
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@ public class SpecFilterTest {
     private static final String RESOURCE_RECURSIVE_MODELS = "specFiles/recursivemodels.json";
     private static final String RESOURCE_PATH = "specFiles/petstore-3.0-v2.json";
     private static final String RESOURCE_PATH_3303 = "specFiles/petstore-3.0-v2-ticket-3303.json";
+    private static final String RESOURCE_PATH_LIST = "specFiles/3.1.0/list-3.1.json";
     private static final String RESOURCE_REFERRED_SCHEMAS = "specFiles/petstore-3.0-referred-schemas.json";
     private static final String RESOURCE_PATH_WITHOUT_MODELS = "specFiles/petstore-3.0-v2_withoutModels.json";
     private static final String RESOURCE_DEPRECATED_OPERATIONS = "specFiles/deprecatedoperationmodel.json";
@@ -273,6 +276,16 @@ public void shouldRemoveBrokenNestedRefs() throws IOException {
         assertNotNull(filtered.getComponents().getSchemas().get("discriminatorMatchedChildB"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void shouldRemoveBrokenNestedRefsKeepArray() throws IOException {
+        final OpenAPI openAPI = getOpenAPI31(RESOURCE_PATH_LIST);
+        final RemoveUnreferencedDefinitionsFilter remover = new RemoveUnreferencedDefinitionsFilter();
+        final OpenAPI filtered = new SpecFilter().filter(openAPI, remover, null, null, null);
+
+        assertEquals(filtered.getComponents().getSchemas().size(), 2, "Expected to have parent and child list schemas");
+        assertTrue(filtered.getComponents().getSchemas().containsKey("SomeChildObject"), "Schemas should contains child list");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void shouldNotRemoveGoodRefs() throws IOException {
         final OpenAPI openAPI = getOpenAPI(RESOURCE_PATH);
@@ -438,4 +451,9 @@ private OpenAPI getOpenAPI(String path) throws IOException {
         final String json = ResourceUtils.loadClassResource(getClass(), path);
         return Json.mapper().readValue(json, OpenAPI.class);
     }
+
+    private OpenAPI getOpenAPI31(String path) throws IOException {
+        final String json = ResourceUtils.loadClassResource(getClass(), path);
+        return Json31.mapper().readValue(json, OpenAPI.class);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/modules/swagger-core/src/test/resources/specFiles/3.1.0/list-3.1.json b/modules/swagger-core/src/test/resources/specFiles/3.1.0/list-3.1.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c7e95ad93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/swagger-core/src/test/resources/specFiles/3.1.0/list-3.1.json
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+{
+  "openapi": "3.1.0",
+  "info": {
+    "title": "OpenAPI definition",
+    "version": "v0"
+  },
+  "paths": {
+    "/some/call": {
+      "get": {
+        "description": "Some operation description",
+        "operationId": "getSome",
+        "responses": {
+          "200": {
+            "content": {
+              "application/json": {
+                "schema": {
+                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/SomeParentObject"
+                }
+              }
+            },
+            "description": "OK"
+          }
+        },
+        "summary": "Some summary",
+        "tags": [
+          "Some"
+        ]
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "servers": [
+    {
+      "description": "Generated server url",
+      "url": "http://localhost:8080"
+    }
+  ],
+  "tags": [
+    {
+      "description": "some actions",
+      "name": "Some"
+    }
+  ],
+  "components": {
+    "schemas": {
+      "SomeChildObject": {
+        "description": "Some child object",
+        "properties": {
+          "id": {
+            "description": "id",
+            "format": "int64",
+            "type": "integer"
+          },
+          "name": {
+            "description": "name",
+            "type": "string"
+          }
+        }
+      },
+      "SomeParentObject": {
+        "description": "Some parent object",
+        "properties": {
+          "id": {
+            "description": "id",
+            "format": "int64",
+            "type": "integer"
+          },
+          "someList": {
+            "description": "list",
+            "items": {
+              "$ref": "#/components/schemas/SomeChildObject"
+            },
+            "type": "array"
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file