diff --git a/SciPost_v1/settings/base.py b/SciPost_v1/settings/base.py
index 8b0c8de82ac6e42c417b7c69e4bfc05c74302037..081cd3c2e480baa6e2c353c96dafdb2e415b8201 100644
--- a/SciPost_v1/settings/base.py
+++ b/SciPost_v1/settings/base.py
@@ -209,7 +209,13 @@ DATABASES = {
         'PORT': '5432',
     }
 }
-
+MONGO_DATABASE = {
+    'database': 'scipost',
+    'host': 'localhost',
+    'user': '',
+    'password': '',
+    'port': '27017',
+}
 
 # Internationalization
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/i18n/
diff --git a/SciPost_v1/settings/staging_release.py b/SciPost_v1/settings/staging_release.py
index bef469d83c25b8e9418898747d2057fa002aa0fd..28c689878b7aa3fc0969ea1d0e6b47a711eb9915 100644
--- a/SciPost_v1/settings/staging_release.py
+++ b/SciPost_v1/settings/staging_release.py
@@ -23,3 +23,7 @@ WEBPACK_LOADER['DEFAULT']['BUNDLE_DIR_NAME'] = '/home/jdewit/webapps/scipost_sta
 # Logging
 LOGGING['handlers']['scipost_file_arxiv']['filename'] = '/home/jdewit/webapps/scipost/logs/arxiv.log'
 LOGGING['handlers']['scipost_file_doi']['filename'] = '/home/jdewit/webapps/scipost/logs/doi.log'
+
+MONGO_DATABASE['user'] = get_secret('MONGO_DB_USER')
+MONGO_DATABASE['password'] = get_secret('MONGO_DB_PASSWORD')
+MONGO_DATABASE['port'] = get_secret("MONGO_DB_PORT")
diff --git a/metacore/models.py b/metacore/models.py
index d9dde46762f26e63da484aea71d4dc9a1f23d083..7861cc09d4f1c6489dabb8bc779f406eb797eb46 100644
--- a/metacore/models.py
+++ b/metacore/models.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 from django.db import models
+from django.conf import settings
+
 from mongoengine import connect, DynamicDocument, ListField, StringField,\
                         DynamicField, URLField, DateTimeField
 
@@ -7,7 +9,12 @@ from .managers import CitableQuerySet
 
 # Make the connection to MongoDB - this could be put in settings.py as well
 # It uses default settings for the mongo server
-connect('scipost')
+connect(settings.MONGO_DATABASE['database'],
+        host=settings.MONGO_DATABASE['host'],
+        user=settings.MONGO_DATABASE['user'],
+        password=settings.MONGO_DATABASE['password']
+        port=settings.MONGO_DATABASE['port'])
+
 
 class Citable(DynamicDocument):
     """
@@ -60,4 +67,3 @@ class CitableWithDOI(Citable):
 
     def times_cited(self):
         return CitableWithDOI.objects.cited_by(self.doi).count()
-