diff --git a/IPython/core/release.py b/IPython/core/release.py
index 01590a9..a135d4c 100644
--- a/IPython/core/release.py
+++ b/IPython/core/release.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ name = 'ipython'
 # version
 _version_major = 4
 _version_minor = 0
-_version_patch = 2
+_version_patch = 3
 # _version_extra = 'dev'
 # _version_extra = 'rc1'
 _version_extra = ''  # Uncomment this for full releases
diff --git a/docs/source/whatsnew/version4.rst b/docs/source/whatsnew/version4.rst
index af1b535..4e6b472 100644
--- a/docs/source/whatsnew/version4.rst
+++ b/docs/source/whatsnew/version4.rst
@@ -2,6 +2,17 @@
  4.x Series
 ============
 
+IPython 4.0.3
+=============
+
+Released January, 2016
+
+Fixes for:
+
+- Python 3.5 bug in that could crash during shutdown, triggered by deprecations in traitlets 4.1.
+- Typo in deprecation message for nbconvert
+
+
 IPython 4.0.2
 =============