diff --git a/doc/modules/partial_dependence.rst b/doc/modules/partial_dependence.rst
index 92a44c0640f98..7ce099f2342e9 100644
--- a/doc/modules/partial_dependence.rst
+++ b/doc/modules/partial_dependence.rst
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ The figure below shows two one-way and one two-way partial dependence plots for
 the bike sharing dataset, with a
 :class:`~sklearn.ensemble.HistGradientBoostingRegressor`:
 
-.. figure:: ../auto_examples/inspection/images/sphx_glr_plot_partial_dependence_005.png
+.. figure:: ../auto_examples/inspection/images/sphx_glr_plot_partial_dependence_006.png
    :target: ../auto_examples/inspection/plot_partial_dependence.html
    :align: center
    :scale: 70
diff --git a/doc/templates/index.html b/doc/templates/index.html
index 6fed789140124..af69ae570a785 100644
--- a/doc/templates/index.html
+++ b/doc/templates/index.html
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ <h4 class="sk-landing-call-header">News</h4>
         <li><strong>On-going development:</strong>
         <a href="https://scikit-learn.org/dev/whats_new.html"><strong>What's new</strong> (Changelog)</a>
         </li>
+        <li><strong>December 2022.</strong> scikit-learn 1.2.0 is available for download (<a href="whats_new/v1.2.html#version-1-2-0">Changelog</a>).
+        </li>
         <li><strong>October 2022.</strong> scikit-learn 1.1.3 is available for download (<a href="whats_new/v1.1.html#version-1-1-3">Changelog</a>).
         </li>
         <li><strong>August 2022.</strong> scikit-learn 1.1.2 is available for download (<a href="whats_new/v1.1.html#version-1-1-2">Changelog</a>).
diff --git a/doc/whats_new/v1.2.rst b/doc/whats_new/v1.2.rst
index bc7aaffc6e932..6a63033878f84 100644
--- a/doc/whats_new/v1.2.rst
+++ b/doc/whats_new/v1.2.rst
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@
 Version 1.2.0
 =============
 
-**In Development**
+**December 2022**
+
+For a short description of the main highlights of the release, please refer to
+:ref:`sphx_glr_auto_examples_release_highlights_plot_release_highlights_1_2_0.py`.
 
 .. include:: changelog_legend.inc
 
@@ -291,7 +294,7 @@ Changelog
 :mod:`sklearn.ensemble`
 .......................
 
-- |Feature| :class:`ensemble.HistGradientBoostingClassifier` and
+- |MajorFeature| :class:`ensemble.HistGradientBoostingClassifier` and
   :class:`ensemble.HistGradientBoostingRegressor` now support
   interaction constraints via the argument `interaction_cst` of their
   constructors.
@@ -712,4 +715,52 @@ Code and Documentation Contributors
 Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the maintenance and improvement of
 the project since version 1.1, including:
 
-TODO: update at the time of the release.
+2357juan, 3lLobo, Adam J. Stewart, Adam Li, Aditya Anulekh, Adrin Jalali, Aiko,
+Akshita Prasanth, Alessandro Miola, Alex, Alexandr, Alexandre Perez-Lebel, aman
+kumar, Amit Bera, Andreas Grivas, Andreas Mueller, angela-maennel, Aniket
+Shirsat, Antony Lee, anupam, Apostolos Tsetoglou, Aravindh R, Arturo Amor,
+Ashwin Mathur, avm19, b0rxington, Badr MOUFAD, Bardiya Ak, Bartłomiej Gońda,
+BdeGraaff, Benjamin Carter, berkecanrizai, Bernd Fritzke, Bhoomika, Biswaroop
+Mitra, Brandon TH Chen, Brett Cannon, Bsh, carlo, Carlos Ramos Carreño, ceh,
+chalulu, Charles Zablit, Chiara Marmo, Christian Lorentzen, Christian Ritter,
+christianwaldmann, Christine P. Chai, Claudio Salvatore Arcidiacono, Clément
+Verrier, Daniela Fernandes, DanielGaerber, darioka, Darren Nguyen, David
+Gilbertson, David Poznik, Dev Khant, Dhanshree Arora, Diadochokinetic,
+diederikwp, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, drewhogg, Duarte OC, Dwight
+Lindquist, Eden Brekke, Edoardo Abati, Eleanore Denies, EliaSchiavon,
+ErmolaevPA, Fabrizio Damicelli, fcharras, Flynn, francesco-tuveri, Franck
+Charras, ftorres16, Gael Varoquaux, Geevarghese George, GeorgiaMayDay, Gianr
+Lazz, Gleb Levitski, Glòria Macià Muñoz, Guillaume Lemaitre, Guillem García
+Subies, Guitared, Hansin Ahuja, Hao Chun Chang, Harsh Agrawal, harshit5674,
+hasan-yaman, henrymooresc, Henry Sorsky, Hristo Vrigazov, htsedebenham, humahn,
+i-aki-y, Iglesys, Iliya Zhechev, Irene, ivanllt, Ivan Sedykh, jakirkham, Jason
+G, Jérémie du Boisberranger, Jiten Sidhpura, jkarolczak, João David, John Koumentis,
+John P, johnthagen, Jordan Fleming, Joshua Choo Yun Keat, Jovan Stojanovic,
+Juan Carlos Alfaro Jiménez, juanfe88, Juan Felipe Arias, Julien Jerphanion,
+Kanishk Sachdev, Kanissh, Kendall, Kenneth Prabakaran, kernc, Kevin Roice, Kian Eliasi,
+Kilian Lieret, Kirandevraj, Kraig, krishna kumar, krishna vamsi, Kshitij Kapadni,
+Kshitij Mathur, Lauren Burke, Léonard Binet, lingyi1110, Lisa Casino, Loic Esteve,
+Luciano Mantovani, Lucy Liu, Maascha, Madhura Jayaratne, madinak, Maksym, Malte
+S. Kurz, Mansi Agrawal, Marco Edward Gorelli, Marco Wurps, Maren Westermann,
+Maria Telenczuk, martin-kokos, mathurinm, mauroantonioserrano, Maxi Marufo,
+Maxim Smolskiy, Maxwell, Meekail Zain, Mehgarg, mehmetcanakbay, Mia Bajić,
+Michael Flaks, Michael Hornstein, Michel de Ruiter, Michelle Paradis, Misa
+Ogura, Moritz Wilksch, mrastgoo, Naipawat Poolsawat, Naoise Holohan, Nass,
+Nathan Jacobi, Nguyễn Văn Diễn, Nihal Thukarama Rao, Nikita Jare,
+nima10khodaveisi, Nima Sarajpoor, nitinramvelraj, Nwanna-Joseph, Nymark Kho,
+o-holman, Olivier Grisel, Olle Lukowski, Omar Hassoun, Omar Salman, osman
+tamer, Oyindamola Olatunji, Paulo Sergio  Soares, Petar Mlinarić, Peter
+Jansson, Peter Steinbach, Philipp Jung, Piet Brömmel, priyam kakati, puhuk,
+Rachel Freeland, Rachit Keerti Das, Rahil Parikh, Ravi Makhija, Rehan Guha,
+Reshama Shaikh, Richard Klima, Rob Crockett, Robert Hommes, Robert Juergens,
+Robin Lenz, Rocco Meli, Roman4oo, Ross Barnowski, Rowan Mankoo, Rudresh
+Veerkhare, Rushil Desai, Sabri Monaf Sabri, Safikh, Safiuddin Khaja,
+Salahuddin, Sam Adam Day, Sandra Yojana Meneses, Sandro Ephrem, Sangam,
+SangamSwadik, SarahRemus, SavkoMax, Sean Atukorala, sec65, SELEE, seljaks,
+Shane, shellyfung, Shinsuke Mori, Shoaib Khan, Shrankhla Srivastava, Shuangchi
+He, Simon, Srinath Kailasa, Stefanie Molin, stellalin7, Stéphane Collot, Steve
+Schmerler, Sven Stehle, TheDevPanda, the-syd-sre, Thomas Bonald, Thomas J. Fan,
+Ti-Ion, Tim Head, Timofei Kornev, toastedyeast, Tobias Pitters, Tom Dupré la
+Tour, Tom Mathews, Tom McTiernan, tspeng, Tyler Egashira, Valentin Laurent,
+Varun Jain, Vera Komeyer, Vicente Reyes-Puerta, Vincent M, Vishal, wattai,
+wchathura, WEN Hao, x110, Xiao Yuan, Xunius, yanhong-zhao-ef, Z Adil Khwaja
diff --git a/sklearn/__init__.py b/sklearn/__init__.py
index 097501b0c5c6a..f9e62d3ad969a 100644
--- a/sklearn/__init__.py
+++ b/sklearn/__init__.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 # Dev branch marker is: 'X.Y.dev' or 'X.Y.devN' where N is an integer.
 # 'X.Y.dev0' is the canonical version of 'X.Y.dev'
 #
-__version__ = "1.2.dev0"
+__version__ = "1.2.0rc1"
 
 
 # On OSX, we can get a runtime error due to multiple OpenMP libraries loaded