Methods and apparatuses are provided for determining cyclic shift (CS) values and/or orthogonal cover codes (OCC) for a plurality of demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) transmitted over multiple layers in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications. A CS index can be received from a base station in downlink control information (DCI) or similar signaling. Based at least in part on the CS index, CS values for the plurality of DM-RSs can be determined. In addition, OCC can be explicitly signaled or similarly determined from the CS index and/or a configured CS value received from a higher layer. In addition, controlling assignment of CS indices and/or OCC can facilitate providing orthogonality for communications from paired devices in multiuser MIMO.