diff --git a/doc/org-manual.org b/doc/org-manual.org
index 6d5a34e56..69a36d6c7 100644
--- a/doc/org-manual.org
+++ b/doc/org-manual.org
@@ -12531,6 +12531,15 @@ settings described in [[*Export Settings]].
   to typeset LaTeX math in HTML documents.  See [[*Math formatting in
   HTML export]], for an example.
 
+- =HTML_EQUATION_REFERENCE_FORMAT= ::
+
+  #+cindex: @samp{HTML_EQUATION_REFERENCE_FORMAT}, keyword
+  #+vindex: org-html-equation-reference-format
+  Specify the MathJax command for referencing equations
+  (~org-html-equation-reference-format~). The default is to wrap in
+  parentheses using "\\eqref{%s}". Setting to "\\ref{%s}" is consistent
+  with LaTeX export.
+
 - =HTML_HEAD= ::
 
   #+cindex: @samp{HTML_HEAD}, keyword
@@ -12898,6 +12907,9 @@ files.  This method requires that the dvipng program, dvisvgm or
 ImageMagick suite is available on your system.  You can still get this
 processing with
 
+The command for formatting equation references can be configured via
+~org-html-equation-reference-format~.
+
 : #+OPTIONS: tex:dvipng
 
 : #+OPTIONS: tex:dvisvgm
diff --git a/lisp/ox-html.el b/lisp/ox-html.el
index e70b8279b..4848028a2 100644
--- a/lisp/ox-html.el
+++ b/lisp/ox-html.el
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@
     (:html-link-home "HTML_LINK_HOME" nil org-html-link-home)
     (:html-link-up "HTML_LINK_UP" nil org-html-link-up)
     (:html-mathjax "HTML_MATHJAX" nil "" space)
+    (:html-equation-reference-format "HTML_EQUATION_REFERENCE_FORMAT" nil org-html-equation-reference-format t)
     (:html-postamble nil "html-postamble" org-html-postamble)
     (:html-preamble nil "html-preamble" org-html-preamble)
     (:html-head "HTML_HEAD" nil org-html-head newline)
@@ -761,6 +762,20 @@ The function should return the string to be exported."
 
 ;;;; LaTeX
 
+(defcustom org-html-equation-reference-format "\\eqref{%s}"
+  "MathJax command to use when referencing equations.
+
+Default is to wrap equations in parentheses (using \"\\eqref{%s}\)\".
+
+Most common values are:
+
+  \"\\eqref{%s}\"    Wrap the equation in parentheses
+  \"\\ref{%s}\"      Do not wrap the equation in parentheses"
+  :group 'org-export-html
+  :package-version '(Org . "9.3")
+  :type 'string
+  :safe t)
+
 (defcustom org-html-with-latex org-export-with-latex
   "Non-nil means process LaTeX math snippets.
 
@@ -3113,9 +3128,9 @@ INFO is a plist holding contextual information.  See
                     (eq 'latex-environment (org-element-type destination))
                     (eq 'math (org-latex--environment-type destination)))
                ;; Caption and labels are introduced within LaTeX
-	       ;; environment.  Use "eqref" macro to refer to those in
-	       ;; the document.
-               (format "\\eqref{%s}"
+	       ;; environment.  Use "ref" or "eqref" macro, depending on user
+               ;; preference to refer to those in the document.
+               (format (plist-get info :html-equation-reference-format)
                        (org-export-get-reference destination info))
              (let* ((ref (org-export-get-reference destination info))
                     (org-html-standalone-image-predicate