diff --git a/modules/mol/alg/pymod/qsscoring.py b/modules/mol/alg/pymod/qsscoring.py
index 935241bc689cd9c92391d6723a3bd168ecacbd91..2d0bac6deffe2d9fe30ab0927e04d90ca55e7ffb 100644
--- a/modules/mol/alg/pymod/qsscoring.py
+++ b/modules/mol/alg/pymod/qsscoring.py
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ Scoring of quaternary structures as in Martino's 2017 paper.
     when executing scripts with ``ost``. Otherwise, you must set this with
     :func:`~ost.conop.SetDefaultLib`.
   - ClustalW must be installed (unless you provide chain mappings)
+  - Python modules `numpy` and `scipy` must be installed and available
+    (e.g. use ``pip install scipy numpy``)
 
 Authors: Gerardo Tauriello, Martino Bertoni
 """
diff --git a/modules/mol/alg/tests/test_qsscoring.py b/modules/mol/alg/tests/test_qsscoring.py
index 4351c0509ddf847e7b22d9108081de5ae3439c63..17735209ed23910d30abf4d565dbb246ffbeb30a 100644
--- a/modules/mol/alg/tests/test_qsscoring.py
+++ b/modules/mol/alg/tests/test_qsscoring.py
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
 import unittest, os, sys
 import ost
 from ost import io, mol, settings
-from ost.mol.alg.qsscoring import *
+# check if we can import: fails if numpy or scipy not available
+try:
+  from ost.mol.alg.qsscoring import *
+except ImportError:
+  print "Failed to import qsscoring. Happens when numpy or scipy missing. " \
+        "Ignoring test_qsscoring.py tests."
+  sys.exit(0)
 
 
 def _LoadFile(file_name):