diff --git a/AUTHORS.txt b/AUTHORS.txt
index f02621e55c7..e845ac71569 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.txt
+++ b/AUTHORS.txt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Alexandre Conrad <alexandre.conrad@gmail.com>
 Alli <alzeih@users.noreply.github.com>
 Anatoly Techtonik <techtonik@gmail.com>
 Andrei Geacar <andrei.geacar@gmail.com>
+Andrew Gaul <andrew@gaul.org>
 Andrey Bulgakov <mail@andreiko.ru>
 Andrés Delfino <34587441+andresdelfino@users.noreply.github.com>
 Andrés Delfino <adelfino@gmail.com>
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@ Ashley Manton <ajd.manton@googlemail.com>
 Atsushi Odagiri <aodagx@gmail.com>
 Avner Cohen <israbirding@gmail.com>
 Baptiste Mispelon <bmispelon@gmail.com>
+Barney Gale <barney.gale@gmail.com>
+barneygale <barney.gale@gmail.com>
 Bartek Ogryczak <b.ogryczak@gmail.com>
 Bastian Venthur <mail@venthur.de>
 Ben Darnell <ben@bendarnell.com>
@@ -46,6 +49,7 @@ Benjamin VanEvery <ben@simondata.com>
 Benoit Pierre <benoit.pierre@gmail.com>
 Berker Peksag <berker.peksag@gmail.com>
 Bernardo B. Marques <bernardo.fire@gmail.com>
+Bernhard M. Wiedemann <bwiedemann@suse.de>
 Bogdan Opanchuk <bogdan@opanchuk.net>
 Brad Erickson <eosrei@gmail.com>
 Bradley Ayers <bradley.ayers@gmail.com>
@@ -55,6 +59,7 @@ Brian Rosner <brosner@gmail.com>
 BrownTruck <BrownTruck@users.noreply.github.com>
 Bruno Oliveira <nicoddemus@gmail.com>
 Bruno Renié <brutasse@gmail.com>
+Bstrdsmkr <bstrdsmkr@gmail.com>
 Buck Golemon <buck@yelp.com>
 burrows <burrows@preveil.com>
 Bussonnier Matthias <bussonniermatthias@gmail.com>
@@ -157,6 +162,7 @@ Herbert Pfennig <herbert@albinen.com>
 Hsiaoming Yang <lepture@me.com>
 Hugo <hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>
 Hugo Lopes Tavares <hltbra@gmail.com>
+hugovk <hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>
 Hynek Schlawack <hs@ox.cx>
 Ian Bicking <ianb@colorstudy.com>
 Ian Cordasco <graffatcolmingov@gmail.com>
@@ -182,6 +188,7 @@ Jannis Leidel <jannis@leidel.info>
 jarondl <me@jarondl.net>
 Jason R. Coombs <jaraco@jaraco.com>
 Jay Graves <jay@skabber.com>
+Jean-Christophe Fillion-Robin <jchris.fillionr@kitware.com>
 Jeff Barber <jbarber@computer.org>
 Jeff Dairiki <dairiki@dairiki.org>
 Jeremy Stanley <fungi@yuggoth.org>
@@ -194,6 +201,7 @@ Jon Dufresne <jon.dufresne@gmail.com>
 Jon Parise <jon@indelible.org>
 Jon Wayne Parrott <jjramone13@gmail.com>
 Jonas Nockert <jonasnockert@gmail.com>
+Jonathan Herbert <foohyfooh@gmail.com>
 Joost Molenaar <j.j.molenaar@gmail.com>
 Jorge Niedbalski <niedbalski@gmail.com>
 Joseph Long <jdl@fastmail.fm>
@@ -219,10 +227,12 @@ kpinc <kop@meme.com>
 Kumar McMillan <kumar.mcmillan@gmail.com>
 Kyle Persohn <kyle.persohn@gmail.com>
 Laurent Bristiel <laurent@bristiel.com>
+Laurie Opperman <laurie@sitesee.com.au>
 Leon Sasson <leonsassonha@gmail.com>
 Lev Givon <lev@columbia.edu>
 Lincoln de Sousa <lincoln@comum.org>
 Lipis <lipiridis@gmail.com>
+Loren Carvalho <lcarvalho@linkedin.com>
 Lucas Cimon <lucas.cimon@gmail.com>
 Ludovic Gasc <gmludo@gmail.com>
 Luke Macken <lmacken@redhat.com>
@@ -259,6 +269,7 @@ Michael E. Karpeles <michael.karpeles@gmail.com>
 Michael Klich <michal@michalklich.com>
 Michael Williamson <mike@zwobble.org>
 michaelpacer <michaelpacer@gmail.com>
+Mickaël Schoentgen <mschoentgen@nuxeo.com>
 Miguel Araujo Perez <miguel.araujo.perez@gmail.com>
 Mihir Singh <git.service@mihirsingh.com>
 Min RK <benjaminrk@gmail.com>
@@ -272,6 +283,7 @@ Nehal J Wani <nehaljw.kkd1@gmail.com>
 Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan@gmail.com>
 Nick Stenning <nick@whiteink.com>
 Nikhil Benesch <nikhil.benesch@gmail.com>
+Nitesh Sharma <nbsharma@outlook.com>
 Nowell Strite <nowell@strite.org>
 nvdv <modestdev@gmail.com>
 Ofekmeister <ofekmeister@gmail.com>
@@ -380,6 +392,7 @@ Tomer Chachamu <tomer.chachamu@gmail.com>
 Tony Zhaocheng Tan <tony@tonytan.io>
 Toshio Kuratomi <toshio@fedoraproject.org>
 Travis Swicegood <development@domain51.com>
+Tzu-ping Chung <uranusjr@gmail.com>
 Valentin Haenel <valentin.haenel@gmx.de>
 Victor Stinner <victor.stinner@gmail.com>
 Viktor Szépe <viktor@szepe.net>
diff --git a/NEWS.rst b/NEWS.rst
index 7182ea1c537..ceaff88c168 100644
--- a/NEWS.rst
+++ b/NEWS.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,53 @@
 
 .. towncrier release notes start
 
+18.1 (2018-10-05)
+=================
+
+Features
+--------
+
+- Allow PEP 508 URL requirements to be used as dependencies.
+
+  As a security measure, pip will raise an exception when installing packages from
+  PyPI if those packages depend on packages not also hosted on PyPI.
+  In the future, PyPI will block uploading packages with such external URL dependencies directly. (`#4187 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/4187>`_)
+- Upgrade pyparsing to 2.2.1. (`#5013 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5013>`_)
+- Allows dist options (--abi, --python-version, --platform, --implementation) when installing with --target (`#5355 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5355>`_)
+- Support passing ``svn+ssh`` URLs with a username to ``pip install -e``. (`#5375 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5375>`_)
+- pip now ensures that the RECORD file is sorted when installing from a wheel file. (`#5525 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5525>`_)
+- Add support for Python 3.7. (`#5561 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5561>`_)
+- Malformed configuration files now show helpful error messages, instead of tracebacks. (`#5798 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5798>`_)
+
+Bug Fixes
+---------
+
+- Checkout the correct branch when doing an editable Git install. (`#2037 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/2037>`_)
+- Run self-version-check only on commands that may access the index, instead of
+  trying on every run and failing to do so due to missing options. (`#5433 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5433>`_)
+- Allow a Git ref to be installed over an existing installation. (`#5624 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5624>`_)
+- Show a better error message when a configuration option has an invalid value. (`#5644 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5644>`_)
+- Always revalidate cached simple API pages instead of blindly caching them for up to 10
+  minutes. (`#5670 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5670>`_)
+- Avoid caching self-version-check information when cache is disabled. (`#5679 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5679>`_)
+- Avoid traceback printing on autocomplete after flags in the CLI. (`#5751 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5751>`_)
+- Fix incorrect parsing of egg names if pip needs to guess the package name. (`#5819 <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/5819>`_)
+
+Vendored Libraries
+------------------
+
+- Upgrade certifi to 2018.8.24
+- Upgrade packaging to 18.0
+- Add pep517 version 0.2
+- Upgrade pytoml to 0.1.19
+- Upgrade pkg_resources to 40.4.3 (via setuptools)
+
+Improved Documentation
+----------------------
+
+- Fix "Requirements Files" reference in User Guide (`#user_guide_fix_requirements_file_ref <https://github.com/pypa/pip/issues/user_guide_fix_requirements_file_ref>`_)
+
+
 18.0 (2018-07-22)
 =================
 
diff --git a/news/143AE47B-6AC8-490A-B9F5-2F30022A6918.trivial b/news/143AE47B-6AC8-490A-B9F5-2F30022A6918.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/15771DE2-0EE8-4776-84E3-5496E9C9C9CC.trivial b/news/15771DE2-0EE8-4776-84E3-5496E9C9C9CC.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/2037.bugfix b/news/2037.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index aca18b07b5e..00000000000
--- a/news/2037.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Checkout the correct branch when doing an editable Git install.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/news/3037AE5E-B9C6-4BCE-BD7A-D68DD4529386.trivial b/news/3037AE5E-B9C6-4BCE-BD7A-D68DD4529386.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/3249E95B-9AAF-4885-972B-268BEA9E0E5F.trivial b/news/3249E95B-9AAF-4885-972B-268BEA9E0E5F.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/4187.feature b/news/4187.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 03a874bc34f..00000000000
--- a/news/4187.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-Allow PEP 508 URL requirements to be used as dependencies.
-
-As a security measure, pip will raise an exception when installing packages from
-PyPI if those packages depend on packages not also hosted on PyPI.
-In the future, PyPI will block uploading packages with such external URL dependencies directly.
diff --git a/news/5013.feature b/news/5013.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 2f3771fc1e9..00000000000
--- a/news/5013.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Upgrade pyparsing to 2.2.1.
-
diff --git a/news/516F9BDF-53AF-4885-A966-6474A27A6D46.trivial b/news/516F9BDF-53AF-4885-A966-6474A27A6D46.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/5355.feature b/news/5355.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index fc2e108f2c1..00000000000
--- a/news/5355.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Allows dist options (--abi, --python-version, --platform, --implementation) when installing with --target
diff --git a/news/5375.feature b/news/5375.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 5e6460d3dea..00000000000
--- a/news/5375.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Support passing ``svn+ssh`` URLs with a username to ``pip install -e``.
diff --git a/news/5433.bugfix b/news/5433.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index bed41fce825..00000000000
--- a/news/5433.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Run self-version-check only on commands that may access the index, instead of
-trying on every run and failing to do so due to missing options.
diff --git a/news/5525.feature b/news/5525.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 1af8be6f997..00000000000
--- a/news/5525.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-pip now ensures that the RECORD file is sorted when installing from a wheel file.
diff --git a/news/5561.feature b/news/5561.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 30e37cb9908..00000000000
--- a/news/5561.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add support for Python 3.7.
diff --git a/news/5624.bugfix b/news/5624.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index fc6b58fe8eb..00000000000
--- a/news/5624.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Allow a Git ref to be installed over an existing installation.
diff --git a/news/5644.bugfix b/news/5644.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 39b72077266..00000000000
--- a/news/5644.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Show a better error message when a configuration option has an invalid value.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/news/5670.bugfix b/news/5670.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 9ffac6638cb..00000000000
--- a/news/5670.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-Always revalidate cached simple API pages instead of blindly caching them for up to 10
-minutes.
diff --git a/news/5679.bugfix b/news/5679.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 250166925b9..00000000000
--- a/news/5679.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Avoid caching self-version-check information when cache is disabled.
diff --git a/news/5748.trivial b/news/5748.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index 6ca14b372a8..00000000000
--- a/news/5748.trivial
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Remove the unmatched bracket in the --no-clean option's help text.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/news/5751.bugfix b/news/5751.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 36926c9a67a..00000000000
--- a/news/5751.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Avoid traceback printing on autocomplete after flags in the CLI.
diff --git a/news/5753.trivial b/news/5753.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index 4e6860c24c3..00000000000
--- a/news/5753.trivial
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix links to NEWS entry guidelines.
diff --git a/news/5798.feature b/news/5798.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index 10d598594f7..00000000000
--- a/news/5798.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Malformed configuration files now show helpful error messages, instead of tracebacks.
diff --git a/news/5819.bugfix b/news/5819.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 9fea812792e..00000000000
--- a/news/5819.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix incorrect parsing of egg names if pip needs to guess the package name.
diff --git a/news/5819.trivial b/news/5819.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index 9ffde7cb6de..00000000000
--- a/news/5819.trivial
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Simplify always-true conditions in ``HTMLPage.get_page()``.
diff --git a/news/5821.trivial b/news/5821.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index 25c6284e8b0..00000000000
--- a/news/5821.trivial
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add unit tests for egg_info_matches.
diff --git a/news/5826.trivial b/news/5826.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index 6f4ec80d5bb..00000000000
--- a/news/5826.trivial
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Refactor HTMLPage to reduce attributes on it.
diff --git a/news/5833.trivial b/news/5833.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index f01ca00231c..00000000000
--- a/news/5833.trivial
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Move static and class methods out of HTMLPage for prepare for refactoring.
diff --git a/news/5CACBF2F-4917-4C85-9F41-32C2F998E8AD.trivial b/news/5CACBF2F-4917-4C85-9F41-32C2F998E8AD.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/62f41bbe-675e-4afa-a1ba-ac18208429ff.trivial b/news/62f41bbe-675e-4afa-a1ba-ac18208429ff.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/88BB743A-BE4E-4012-A714-9FE3B36BD30A.trivial b/news/88BB743A-BE4E-4012-A714-9FE3B36BD30A.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/88E800D4-2360-48F6-BD1D-9C6BAB0D059E.trivial b/news/88E800D4-2360-48F6-BD1D-9C6BAB0D059E.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/8CC94B14-B963-4645-BB9C-D63C6D854294.trivial b/news/8CC94B14-B963-4645-BB9C-D63C6D854294.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/8EA012C5-DBB9-4909-A724-3E375CBF4D3A.trivial b/news/8EA012C5-DBB9-4909-A724-3E375CBF4D3A.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/8EC51B95-AFCC-4955-A416-5435650C8D15.trivial b/news/8EC51B95-AFCC-4955-A416-5435650C8D15.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/94B8EE86-500E-4C27-BC8E-136550E30A62.trivial b/news/94B8EE86-500E-4C27-BC8E-136550E30A62.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/ACEFD11F-E9D5-4EFD-901F-D11BAF89808A.trivial b/news/ACEFD11F-E9D5-4EFD-901F-D11BAF89808A.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/BE5B0FA7-1A6E-47F6-AF80-E26B679352A0.trivial b/news/BE5B0FA7-1A6E-47F6-AF80-E26B679352A0.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/CD18D0D2-2C80-43CD-9A26-ED2535E2E840.trivial b/news/CD18D0D2-2C80-43CD-9A26-ED2535E2E840.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/CF11FF8C-C348-4523-9DFC-A7FEBCADF154.trivial b/news/CF11FF8C-C348-4523-9DFC-A7FEBCADF154.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/D7B6B89D-2437-428E-A94B-56A3210F1C6F.trivial b/news/D7B6B89D-2437-428E-A94B-56A3210F1C6F.trivial
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2d..00000000000
diff --git a/news/certifi.vendor b/news/certifi.vendor
deleted file mode 100644
index eb401fd67d1..00000000000
--- a/news/certifi.vendor
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Upgrade certifi to 2018.8.24
diff --git a/news/packaging.vendor b/news/packaging.vendor
deleted file mode 100644
index ca83b8d343b..00000000000
--- a/news/packaging.vendor
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Upgrade packaging to 18.0
diff --git a/news/pep517.vendor b/news/pep517.vendor
deleted file mode 100644
index 53f5c85d4b6..00000000000
--- a/news/pep517.vendor
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Add pep517 version 0.2
diff --git a/news/pytoml.vendor b/news/pytoml.vendor
deleted file mode 100644
index f1fab347bd6..00000000000
--- a/news/pytoml.vendor
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Upgrade pytoml to 0.1.19
diff --git a/news/setuptools.vendor b/news/setuptools.vendor
deleted file mode 100644
index 2f3815833c2..00000000000
--- a/news/setuptools.vendor
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Upgrade pkg_resources to 40.4.3 (via setuptools)
diff --git a/news/user_guide_fix_requirements_file_ref.doc b/news/user_guide_fix_requirements_file_ref.doc
deleted file mode 100644
index 07112d375d5..00000000000
--- a/news/user_guide_fix_requirements_file_ref.doc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Fix "Requirements Files" reference in User Guide
diff --git a/src/pip/__init__.py b/src/pip/__init__.py
index 2e8c4e43d18..ae265fa7df4 100644
--- a/src/pip/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pip/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "18.1.dev0"
+__version__ = "18.1"