diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bf982d9..9a10953 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,4 +56,6 @@ Major API/ABI changes may occur between major version releases, by definition. I
 
 Please send patches to the [protobuf-c mailing list](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/protobuf-c) or by opening a GitHub pull request.
 
+The most recently released `protobuf-c` version is kept on the `master` branch, while the `next` branch is used for commits targeted at the next release. Please base patches and pull requests against the `next` branch, not the `master` branch.
+
 Copyright to all contributions are retained by the original author, but must be licensed under the terms of the [BSD-2-Clause](http://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-2-Clause) license. Please add a `Signed-off-by` header to your commit message (`git commit -s`) to indicate that you are licensing your contribution under these terms.