diff --git a/cpp/src/neighbors/mg/snmg.cuh b/cpp/src/neighbors/mg/snmg.cuh
index 057a3e8272..6aac75d7b5 100644
--- a/cpp/src/neighbors/mg/snmg.cuh
+++ b/cpp/src/neighbors/mg/snmg.cuh
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@
 #include <raft/core/resource/nccl_comm.hpp>
 #include <raft/core/serialize.hpp>
 #include <raft/linalg/add.cuh>
+#include <raft/linalg/map.cuh>
 #include <raft/matrix/init.cuh>
 #include <raft/util/cuda_dev_essentials.cuh>
 
 #include "../../core/omp_wrapper.hpp"
+#include <cuvs/distance/distance.hpp>
 #include <cuvs/neighbors/cagra.hpp>
 #include <cuvs/neighbors/common.hpp>
 #include <cuvs/neighbors/ivf_flat.hpp>
@@ -258,6 +260,8 @@ void sharded_search_with_direct_merge(
   int64_t n_neighbors,
   int64_t n_batches)
 {
+  const bool select_min =
+    cuvs::distance::is_min_close(index.ann_interfaces_.front().index_.value().metric());
   const auto& root_handle = raft::resource::set_current_device_to_root_rank(clique);
   auto in_neighbors       = raft::make_device_matrix<searchIdxT, int64_t, row_major>(
     root_handle, index.num_ranks_ * n_rows_per_batch, n_neighbors);
@@ -355,6 +359,13 @@ void sharded_search_with_direct_merge(
                d_trans.view(),
                raft::make_host_vector_view<const searchIdxT>(h_trans.data(), index.num_ranks_));
 
+    if (!select_min) {
+      raft::linalg::map(root_handle_,
+                        in_distances.view(),
+                        raft::mul_const_op<float>(-1),
+                        raft::make_const_mdspan(in_distances.view()));
+    }
+
     knn_merge_parts(root_handle_,
                     in_distances.view(),
                     in_neighbors.view(),
@@ -362,6 +373,13 @@ void sharded_search_with_direct_merge(
                     out_neighbors.view(),
                     d_trans.view());
 
+    if (!select_min) {
+      raft::linalg::map(root_handle_,
+                        out_distances.view(),
+                        raft::mul_const_op<float>(-1),
+                        raft::make_const_mdspan(out_distances.view()));
+    }
+
     raft::copy(
       root_handle_,
       raft::make_host_vector_view(neighbors.data_handle() + output_offset, part_size),
@@ -388,6 +406,8 @@ void sharded_search_with_tree_merge(
   int64_t n_neighbors,
   int64_t n_batches)
 {
+  const bool select_min =
+    cuvs::distance::is_min_close(index.ann_interfaces_.front().index_.value().metric());
   for (int64_t batch_idx = 0; batch_idx < n_batches; batch_idx++) {
     int64_t offset                  = batch_idx * n_rows_per_batch;
     int64_t query_offset            = offset * n_cols;
@@ -417,6 +437,13 @@ void sharded_search_with_tree_merge(
       cuvs::neighbors::search(
         dev_res, ann_if, search_params, query_partition, neighbors_view, distances_view);
 
+      if (!select_min) {
+        raft::linalg::map(dev_res,
+                          distances_view,
+                          raft::mul_const_op<float>(-1),
+                          raft::make_const_mdspan(distances_view));
+      }
+
       searchIdxT translation_offset = 0;
       for (int r = 0; r < rank; r++) {
         translation_offset += index.ann_interfaces_[r].size();
@@ -499,6 +526,12 @@ void sharded_search_with_tree_merge(
 
           // If done, copy the final result
           if (remaining <= 1) {
+            if (!select_min) {
+              raft::linalg::map(dev_res,
+                                distances_view,
+                                raft::mul_const_op<float>(-1),
+                                raft::make_const_mdspan(distances_view));
+            }
             raft::copy(
               dev_res,
               raft::make_host_vector_view(neighbors.data_handle() + output_offset, part_size),
diff --git a/cpp/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index 8421c3219e..b4a657c90c 100644
--- a/cpp/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cpp/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ endfunction()
 ConfigureTest(
   NAME NEIGHBORS_TEST
   PATH neighbors/brute_force.cu neighbors/brute_force_prefiltered.cu neighbors/sparse_brute_force.cu
-       neighbors/refine.cu neighbors/distance_nn.cu
+       neighbors/refine.cu neighbors/distance_nn.cu neighbors/knn_merge_parts.cu
   GPUS 1
   PERCENT 100
 )
diff --git a/cpp/tests/neighbors/knn_merge_parts.cu b/cpp/tests/neighbors/knn_merge_parts.cu
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..65db1a08ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cpp/tests/neighbors/knn_merge_parts.cu
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/*
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+#include "knn_utils.cuh"
+
+#include <cuvs/neighbors/knn_merge_parts.hpp>
+#include <raft/core/device_mdarray.hpp>
+#include <raft/core/resource/cuda_stream.hpp>
+#include <raft/core/resources.hpp>
+#include <raft/linalg/map.cuh>
+#include <raft/util/cudart_utils.hpp>
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <vector>
+
+namespace cuvs::neighbors {
+namespace {
+
+void run_merge(bool select_min,
+               const std::vector<float>& expected_distances,
+               const std::vector<int64_t>& expected_neighbors)
+{
+  constexpr int64_t n_queries = 2;
+  constexpr int64_t n_parts   = 2;
+  constexpr int64_t k         = 3;
+
+  ASSERT_EQ(expected_distances.size(), n_queries * k);
+  ASSERT_EQ(expected_neighbors.size(), n_queries * k);
+
+  raft::resources res;
+  auto stream = raft::resource::get_cuda_stream(res);
+
+  // Input layout is [part][query][neighbor]. Indices are local to each part.
+  const std::vector<float> input_distances{
+    10.0f, 8.0f, 6.0f, -1.0f, -3.0f, -5.0f, 9.0f, 7.0f, 5.0f, 4.0f, 2.0f, 0.0f};
+  const std::vector<int64_t> input_neighbors{0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2};
+  const std::vector<int64_t> translations{0, 100};
+
+  auto input_distances_device =
+    raft::make_device_matrix<float, int64_t>(res, n_parts * n_queries, k);
+  auto input_neighbors_device =
+    raft::make_device_matrix<int64_t, int64_t>(res, n_parts * n_queries, k);
+  auto output_distances_device   = raft::make_device_matrix<float, int64_t>(res, n_queries, k);
+  auto output_neighbors_device   = raft::make_device_matrix<int64_t, int64_t>(res, n_queries, k);
+  auto expected_distances_device = raft::make_device_matrix<float, int64_t>(res, n_queries, k);
+  auto expected_neighbors_device = raft::make_device_matrix<int64_t, int64_t>(res, n_queries, k);
+  auto translations_device       = raft::make_device_vector<int64_t, int64_t>(res, n_parts);
+
+  raft::update_device(
+    input_distances_device.data_handle(), input_distances.data(), input_distances.size(), stream);
+  raft::update_device(
+    input_neighbors_device.data_handle(), input_neighbors.data(), input_neighbors.size(), stream);
+  raft::update_device(expected_distances_device.data_handle(),
+                      expected_distances.data(),
+                      expected_distances.size(),
+                      stream);
+  raft::update_device(expected_neighbors_device.data_handle(),
+                      expected_neighbors.data(),
+                      expected_neighbors.size(),
+                      stream);
+  raft::update_device(
+    translations_device.data_handle(), translations.data(), translations.size(), stream);
+
+  if (!select_min) {
+    raft::linalg::map(res,
+                      input_distances_device.view(),
+                      raft::mul_const_op<float>(-1),
+                      raft::make_const_mdspan(input_distances_device.view()));
+  }
+
+  knn_merge_parts(res,
+                  input_distances_device.view(),
+                  input_neighbors_device.view(),
+                  output_distances_device.view(),
+                  output_neighbors_device.view(),
+                  translations_device.view());
+
+  if (!select_min) {
+    raft::linalg::map(res,
+                      output_distances_device.view(),
+                      raft::mul_const_op<float>(-1),
+                      raft::make_const_mdspan(output_distances_device.view()));
+  }
+
+  ASSERT_TRUE(devArrMatchKnnPair(expected_neighbors_device.data_handle(),
+                                 output_neighbors_device.data_handle(),
+                                 expected_distances_device.data_handle(),
+                                 output_distances_device.data_handle(),
+                                 n_queries,
+                                 k,
+                                 0.0f,
+                                 stream,
+                                 true));
+}
+
+TEST(KnnMergeParts, SelectsSmallestByDefault)
+{
+  run_merge(true, {5.0f, 6.0f, 7.0f, -5.0f, -3.0f, -1.0f}, {102, 2, 101, 2, 1, 0});
+}
+
+TEST(KnnMergeParts, SelectsLargestAfterNegation)
+{
+  run_merge(false, {10.0f, 9.0f, 8.0f, 4.0f, 2.0f, 0.0f}, {0, 100, 1, 100, 101, 102});
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+}  // namespace cuvs::neighbors