diff --git a/Changelog b/Changelog
index 80f28e689ffd06a3d7f6bab4e32c3fc1cb5788d5..b099ae46b9488db20722e0a48234de493c7a9c25 100644
--- a/Changelog
+++ b/Changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+Changelog for ELPA 2018.05.001.rc1
+
+- significant improved performance on K-computer
+- added interface for the generalized eigenvalue problem
+- extended autotuning functionality
+
 Changelog for ELPA 2017.11.001
 
 - significant improvement of performance of GPU version
diff --git a/ISSUES.md b/ISSUES.md
index 0294e9154a168bc52696d2f6113d5a3c445ebd80..fb6859bf442af8b477a5eb1316703c0e379fee37 100644
--- a/ISSUES.md
+++ b/ISSUES.md
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 For more details and recent updates please visit the online [issue system] (https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/elpa/elpa/issues)
 Issues which are not mentioned in a newer release are (considered as) solved.
 
+### ELPA 2018.05.001.rc1 release ###
+- same issues as in ELPA 2017.11.001
+
 ### ELPA 2017.11.001 release ###
 - the elpa autotune print functions cannot print at the moment
 - on (officially not supported) 32bit systems hangs in MPI can occur
diff --git a/LIBRARY_INTERFACE b/LIBRARY_INTERFACE
index 6e7c67b89bba460d0b434984898fd01d2888ff25..e511c9617fc9387e179f6b79e560ac9788e45a04 100644
--- a/LIBRARY_INTERFACE
+++ b/LIBRARY_INTERFACE
@@ -79,3 +79,7 @@ https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/html_node/Updating-version-info.html
   removed). For the current interface all changes since 2017.05.001 are
   compatible, since only some functions have been added. 
   The state of release 2017.11.001.(rc1) defines this interface
+
+- 12
+  No incompatible API changes w.r.t. the previous version. Some functions have been
+  added
diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES b/RELEASE_NOTES
index 69b358c17d1f4ee987b55b610449aa5b7f30b453..37633f8d2353600f42bcff900b65bcce1d8c3ab2 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES
@@ -1,24 +1,21 @@
-This file contains the release notes for the ELPA 2017.11.001 version
+This file contains the release notes for the ELPA 2018.05.001.rc1 version
 
 What is new?
 -------------
-For detailed information about changes since release ELPA 2017.05.03 please have a look at the Changelog file
+For detailed information about changes since release ELPA 2017.11 please have a look at the Changelog file
 
-- This release contains new compute kernels for IBM Power 8 and Fujistu Sparc64 processors
-- A first version of autotuning has been implemented
+- This release improves the performance on the K-computer
+- The autotuning has been extended
+- an interface to solve the generalized eigenvalue problem has been added
 
 
 ABI change
 ---------------------
 
-Since release 2017.05.003 the ABI has changed.
+Since release 2018.11.001 the ABI has changed.
 
 Any incompatibilities to previous version?
 ---------------------------------------
 
 As mentioned before, the ABI of ELPA was changed; 
-This change only affectes the  old "lecgacy interface", since as 
-anounced some deprecated function aliases have been removed.
-For the current interface there is no incompatibility with the
-previous version ELPA 2017.05.003.
-
+Some new functions (for the generalized eigenvalue problem) have been added
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index ad0b54e78e92368b2f59f2c225c098cce9edbfed..04a9ce4e589c3a9ec333b7495eb934ebf59875c6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -27,13 +27,14 @@ AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 #    by the current interface, as they are ABI compatible (e.g. only new symbols
 #    were added by the new interface)
 #
-AC_SUBST([ELPA_SO_VERSION], [11:0:0])
+AC_SUBST([ELPA_SO_VERSION], [12:0:1])
 
 # API Version
 AC_DEFINE([EARLIEST_API_VERSION], [20170403], [Earliest supported ELPA API version])
-AC_DEFINE([CURRENT_API_VERSION], [20180301], [Current ELPA API version])
+AC_DEFINE([CURRENT_API_VERSION], [20180525], [Current ELPA API version])
 # Autotune Version
 AC_DEFINE([EARLIEST_AUTOTUNE_VERSION], [20171201], [Earliest ELPA API version, which supports autotuning])
+AC_DEFINE([CURRENT_AUTOTUNE_VERSION], [20180525], [Current ELPA autotune version])
 
 AX_CHECK_GNU_MAKE()
 if test x$_cv_gnu_make_command = x ; then