diff --git a/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/invoker.properties b/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/invoker.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9511718
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/invoker.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+# 
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+# 
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+invoker.java.version = 9+
diff --git a/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/pom.xml b/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ea691c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  ~ Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+  ~ or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+  ~ distributed with this work for additional information
+  ~ regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+  ~ to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+  ~ "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+  ~ with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  ~
+  ~   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  ~
+  ~ Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+  ~ software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+  ~ "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+  ~ KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+  ~ specific language governing permissions and limitations
+  ~ under the License.
+  -->
+
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+  <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins.javadoc.it</groupId>
+  <artifactId>mjavadoc562</artifactId>
+  <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+
+  <url>https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/MJAVADOC-562</url>
+
+  <properties>
+    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+    <maven.compiler.release>9</maven.compiler.release>
+  </properties>
+
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>3.8.0</version>
+      </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>@project.version@</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>jar</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/src/main/java/com/foo/MyClass.java b/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/src/main/java/com/foo/MyClass.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b31c66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/it/projects/MJAVADOC-562_release/src/main/java/com/foo/MyClass.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package com.foo;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
+public class MyClass
+{
+    public static void main( String[] args )
+    {
+        Arrays.stream( args ).forEach( System.out::println );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/AbstractJavadocMojo.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/AbstractJavadocMojo.java
index e6cea07..3446c73 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/AbstractJavadocMojo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugins/javadoc/AbstractJavadocMojo.java
@@ -893,6 +893,15 @@
      */
     @Parameter( property = "source" )
     private String source;
+    
+    /**
+     * Provide source compatibility with specified release
+     * 
+     * @since JDK 9
+     * @since 3.1.0
+     */
+    @Parameter( defaultValue = "${maven.compiler.release}" )
+    private String release;
 
     /**
      * Specifies the source paths where the subpackages are located. The <code>sourcepath</code> can contain
@@ -5107,7 +5116,15 @@
             addArgIf( arguments, quiet, "-quiet", SINCE_JAVADOC_1_5 );
         }
 
-        addArgIfNotEmpty( arguments, "-source", JavadocUtil.quotedArgument( source ), SINCE_JAVADOC_1_4 );
+        if ( release != null )
+        {
+            arguments.add( "--release" );
+            arguments.add( release );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            addArgIfNotEmpty( arguments, "-source", JavadocUtil.quotedArgument( source ), SINCE_JAVADOC_1_4 );
+        }
 
         if ( ( StringUtils.isEmpty( sourcepath ) ) && ( StringUtils.isNotEmpty( subpackages ) ) )
         {