How does one document a JSON attribute named "$ref" since it is a reserved keyword?

I have a question about “$ref” and OpenAPI 3.0.0 specification. I am documenting a datamodel (I will call it “DataModel” for clarification) in “#/components/schemas/DataModel” which has a JSON attribute named “$ref”. However, that is a reserved keyword in OpenAPI 3.0.0, used for referencing other areas of the OpenAPI document. How can I document my attribute “$ref” in the properties section of “#components/schemas/DataModel”? Is there an escape sequence that I can put before $ref? “$ref” is the name of an attribute, and does not reference a section in the OpenAPI 3.0.0 document.

Example:

components:
   schemas:
      DataModel:
         type: "object"
         properties:
            $ref: 
               type: "string"
               example: "DocType|OtherDataModel|1351039-1"

[EngineerEthan]

Thank you! Based on your comments above, $ref should be parsed the way I expected it to be parsed when it is an attribute name, so I can link this issue when/if I open another issue. I think this is a problem with the npm package swagger-parser. I will open an issue there if that turns out to be the case.

[cebe]

Using a reference, i.e. placing $ref to reference other parts of the document is only allowed in specific places, using $ref as a property name should not have a special meaning in OpenAPI 3.0 as far as I see (not sure about 3.1 though).