diff --git a/lisp/org-publish.el b/lisp/org-publish.el
index 8e32658d0..228666b97 100644
--- a/lisp/org-publish.el
+++ b/lisp/org-publish.el
@@ -997,7 +997,7 @@ the project."
       (kill-buffer buf))
     (setq index (sort index (lambda (a b) (string< (downcase (car a))
 						   (downcase (car b))))))
-    (setq ibuffer (find-file-noselect (expand-file-name "theindex.org" directory)))
+    (setq ibuffer (find-file-noselect (expand-file-name "theindex.inc" directory)))
     (with-current-buffer ibuffer
       (erase-buffer)
       (insert "* Index\n")
@@ -1024,7 +1024,16 @@ the project."
 	    (insert "     - " link "\n")
 	  (insert "   - " link "\n")))
       (save-buffer))
-    (kill-buffer ibuffer)))
+    (kill-buffer ibuffer)
+    ;; Create theindex.org if it doesn't exist already
+    (let ((index-file (expand-file-name "theindex.org" directory)))
+      (unless (file-exists-p index-file)
+       (setq ibuffer (find-file-noselect index-file))
+       (with-current-buffer ibuffer
+         (erase-buffer)
+         (insert "\n\n#+include: \"theindex.inc\"\n\n")
+         (save-buffer))
+       (kill-buffer ibuffer)))))
 
 ;; Caching functions: