diff --git a/rest_framework/reverse.py b/rest_framework/reverse.py
index d5123d351..2a119afd5 100644
--- a/rest_framework/reverse.py
+++ b/rest_framework/reverse.py
@@ -34,10 +34,29 @@ def preserve_builtin_query_params(url, request=None):
 
 def reverse(viewname, args=None, kwargs=None, request=None, format=None, **extra):
     """
+    Extends `django.urls.reverse` with behavior specific to rest framework.
+
+    The `viewname` will be prepended with the 'rest_framework' application
+    namespace if no namspace is included in the `viewname` argument. The
+    framework fundamentally assumes that the router urls will be included with
+    the 'rest_framework' namespace, so ensure that your root url patterns are
+    configured accordingly. Assuming you use the default router, you can check
+    this with:
+
+        from django.urls import reverse
+
+        reverse('rest_framework:api-root')
+
     If versioning is being used then we pass any `reverse` calls through
     to the versioning scheme instance, so that the resulting URL
     can be modified if needed.
+
+    Optionally takes a `request` object (see `_reverse` for details).
     """
+    # prepend the 'rest_framework' application namespace
+    if ':' not in viewname:
+        viewname = 'rest_framework:' + viewname
+
     scheme = getattr(request, 'versioning_scheme', None)
     if scheme is not None:
         try:
@@ -56,6 +75,8 @@ def _reverse(viewname, args=None, kwargs=None, request=None, format=None, **extr
     """
     Same as `django.urls.reverse`, but optionally takes a request
     and returns a fully qualified URL, using the request to get the base URL.
+
+    Additionally, the request is used to determine the `current_app` instance.
     """
     if format is not None:
         kwargs = kwargs or {}
diff --git a/tests/test_reverse.py b/tests/test_reverse.py
index 473a82ffd..673f46002 100644
--- a/tests/test_reverse.py
+++ b/tests/test_reverse.py
@@ -19,11 +19,16 @@ apppatterns = ([
     url(r'^home$', mock_view, name='home'),
 ], 'app')
 
+apipatterns = ([
+    url(r'^root$', mock_view, name='root'),
+], 'rest_framework')
+
 
 urlpatterns = [
     url(r'^view$', mock_view, name='view'),
     url(r'^app2/', include(apppatterns, namespace='app2')),
     url(r'^app1/', include(apppatterns, namespace='app1')),
+    url(r'^api/', include(apipatterns)),
 ]
 
 
@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ class MockVersioningScheme(object):
         if self.raise_error:
             raise NoReverseMatch()
 
-        return 'http://scheme-reversed/view'
+        return 'http://scheme-reversed/api/root'
 
 
 @override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF='tests.test_reverse')
@@ -44,24 +49,33 @@ class ReverseTests(TestCase):
     """
     Tests for fully qualified URLs when using `reverse`.
     """
+
+    def test_reverse_non_drf_view(self):
+        request = factory.get('/api/root')
+
+        # DRF reverse should not match non-DRF views
+        with self.assertRaises(NoReverseMatch):
+            reverse('view', request=request)
+
     def test_reversed_urls_are_fully_qualified(self):
-        request = factory.get('/view')
-        url = reverse('view', request=request)
-        assert url == 'http://testserver/view'
+        request = factory.get('/api/root')
+
+        url = reverse('root', request=request)
+        assert url == 'http://testserver/api/root'
 
     def test_reverse_with_versioning_scheme(self):
-        request = factory.get('/view')
+        request = factory.get('/api/root')
         request.versioning_scheme = MockVersioningScheme()
 
-        url = reverse('view', request=request)
-        assert url == 'http://scheme-reversed/view'
+        url = reverse('root', request=request)
+        assert url == 'http://scheme-reversed/api/root'
 
     def test_reverse_with_versioning_scheme_fallback_to_default_on_error(self):
-        request = factory.get('/view')
+        request = factory.get('/api/root')
         request.versioning_scheme = MockVersioningScheme(raise_error=True)
 
-        url = reverse('view', request=request)
-        assert url == 'http://testserver/view'
+        url = reverse('root', request=request)
+        assert url == 'http://testserver/api/root'
 
 
 @override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF='tests.test_reverse')
@@ -76,6 +90,10 @@ class NamespaceTests(TestCase):
     def request(self, url):
         return self.client.get(url).wsgi_request
 
+    def test_default_namespace(self):
+        url = reverse('root')
+        assert url == '/api/root'
+
     def test_application_namespace(self):
         url = reverse('app:home')
         assert url == '/app1/home'