diff --git a/docs/swh_substitutions b/docs/swh_substitutions
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b28bba3550e6d0286e5d5e492ee1819e4c21bfd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/swh_substitutions
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.. |swh| replace:: *Software Heritage*
diff --git a/swh/docs/sphinx/conf.py b/swh/docs/sphinx/conf.py
index 95d0ac3d90006b7a700708a3a97455d48ec065cd..b7b5624547e89503557b274a2c123e8e3df5730c 100755
--- a/swh/docs/sphinx/conf.py
+++ b/swh/docs/sphinx/conf.py
@@ -37,6 +37,12 @@ source_parsers = {
 # The master toctree document.
 master_doc = 'index'
 
+# A string of reStructuredText that will be included at the beginning of every
+# source file that is read.
+rst_prolog = '''
+.. include:: /swh_substitutions
+'''
+
 # The version info for the project you're documenting, acts as replacement for
 # |version| and |release|, also used in various other places throughout the
 # built documents.