diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/util/JSONUtilities.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/util/JSONUtilities.java
index 967633cdb..db88eeb79 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/util/JSONUtilities.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/util/JSONUtilities.java
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 package com.google.refine.util;
 
+import java.io.StringWriter;
+import java.io.Writer;
 import java.time.LocalDateTime;
 import java.time.ZoneId;
 import java.time.OffsetDateTime;
@@ -42,12 +44,15 @@ import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
 
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONException;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
 import org.json.JSONWriter;
 
+import com.google.refine.Jsonizable;
+
 public class JSONUtilities {
     static public JSONObject getObject(JSONObject obj, String key) {
         try {
@@ -371,4 +376,16 @@ public class JSONUtilities {
             destArray.put(srcArray.get(i));
         }
     }
+    
+    static public String serialize(Jsonizable obj, Properties options) {
+        Writer w = new StringWriter();
+        JSONWriter jsonWriter = new JSONWriter(w);
+        obj.write(jsonWriter, options);
+        return w.toString();
+    }
+    
+    static public String serialize(Jsonizable obj) {
+        Properties options = new Properties();
+        return serialize(obj, options);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/preference/PreferenceStoreTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/preference/PreferenceStoreTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f71a42016
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/preference/PreferenceStoreTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package com.google.refine.tests.preference;
+
+import org.json.JSONObject;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import com.google.refine.preference.PreferenceStore;
+import com.google.refine.tests.util.TestUtils;
+
+public class PreferenceStoreTests {
+    @Test
+    public void serializePreferenceStore() {
+        String json = "{"
+                + "\"entries\":{"
+                + "   \"reconciliation.standardServices\":["
+                + "           {\"propose_properties\":{\"service_url\":\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata\",\"service_path\":\"/en/propose_properties\"}},\"preview\":{\"width\":320,\"url\":\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/en/preview?id={{id}}\",\"height\":90},\"view\":{\"url\":\"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/{{id}}\"},\"ui\":{\"handler\":\"ReconStandardServicePanel\"},\"identifierSpace\":\"http://www.wikidata.org/entity/\",\"name\":\"Wikidata Reconciliation for OpenRefine (en)\",\"suggest\":{\"property\":{\"flyout_service_path\":\"/en/flyout/property?id=${id}\",\"service_url\":\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata\",\"service_path\":\"/en/suggest/property\"},\"type\":{\"flyout_service_path\":\"/en/flyout/type?id=${id}\",\"service_url\":\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata\",\"service_path\":\"/en/suggest/type\"},\"entity\":{\"flyout_service_path\":\"/en/flyout/entity?id=${id}\",\"service_url\":\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata\",\"service_path\":\"/en/suggest/entity\"}},\"defaultTypes\":[{\"name\":\"entity\",\"id\":\"Q35120\"}],\"url\":\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/openrefine-wikidata/en/api\",\"schemaSpace\":\"http://www.wikidata.org/prop/direct/\"}"
+                + "        ],"
+                + "   \"scripting.starred-expressions\":{\"class\":\"com.google.refine.preference.TopList\",\"top\":2147483647,\"list\":[]},"
+                + "   \"scripting.expressions\":{\"class\":\"com.google.refine.preference.TopList\",\"top\":100,\"list\":[]}"
+                + "}}";
+        PreferenceStore prefStore = new PreferenceStore();
+        prefStore.load(new JSONObject(json));
+        TestUtils.isSerializedTo(prefStore, json);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/preference/TopListTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/preference/TopListTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e9ed000d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/preference/TopListTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+package com.google.refine.tests.preference;
+
+import org.json.JSONObject;
+import org.testng.annotations.Test;
+
+import com.google.refine.preference.TopList;
+import com.google.refine.tests.util.TestUtils;
+
+public class TopListTests {
+    @Test
+    public void serializeTopList() {
+        String json = "{"
+                + "\"class\":\"com.google.refine.preference.TopList\","
+                + "\"top\":100,"
+                + "\"list\":["
+                + "   \"grel:value.parseJson()[\\\"end-date\\\"][\\\"year\\\"][\\\"value\\\"]\","
+                + "   \"grel:value.parseJson()[\\\"start-date\\\"][\\\"year\\\"][\\\"value\\\"]\","
+                + "   \"grel:value.parseJson()[\\\"organization\\\"][\\\"disambiguated-organization\\\"][\\\"disambiguated-organization-identifier\\\"]\","
+                + "   \"grel:value.parseJson()[\\\"organization\\\"][\\\"address\\\"][\\\"country\\\"]\",\"grel:value.parseJson()[\\\"organization\\\"][\\\"name\\\"]\","
+                + "   \"grel:value.parseJson()[\\\"employment-summary\\\"].join('###')\","
+                + "   \"grel:\\\"https://pub.orcid.org/\\\"+value+\\\"/employments\\\"\""
+                + "]}";
+        TestUtils.isSerializedTo(
+                TopList.load(new JSONObject(json)),
+                json);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/TestUtils.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/TestUtils.java
index 54d772ffd..e148f8252 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/TestUtils.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/tests/util/TestUtils.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 
 import com.google.refine.Jsonizable;
+import com.google.refine.util.JSONUtilities;
 import com.google.refine.util.ParsingUtilities;
 
 
@@ -59,10 +60,7 @@ public class TestUtils {
      * Checks that a serializable object is serialized to the target JSON string.
      */
     public static void isSerializedTo(Jsonizable o, String targetJson, Properties options) {
-        Writer w = new StringWriter();
-        JSONWriter jsonWriter = new JSONWriter(w);
-        o.write(jsonWriter, options);
-        equalAsJson(targetJson, w.toString());
+        equalAsJson(targetJson, JSONUtilities.serialize(o, options));
     }
     
     /**