diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index dd6961b..2841e7b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ before_install:
   - conda config --set always_yes yes
   - conda update conda
   - conda info -a
-  - travis_retry conda create -n test $CONDA IPython pip nose pyzmq jsonschema
+  - travis_retry conda create -n test $CONDA IPython pip nose pyzmq jsonschema nbformat
   - source activate test
   - travis_retry pip install coveralls
 
diff --git a/pymatbridge/publish.py b/pymatbridge/publish.py
index f6d97d7..213d3cb 100644
--- a/pymatbridge/publish.py
+++ b/pymatbridge/publish.py
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
-import IPython.nbformat.v4 as nbformat
-from IPython.nbformat import write as nbwrite
+try:
+    import nbformat.v4 as nbformat
+    from nbformat import write as nbwrite
+except ImportError:
+    import IPython.nbformat.v4 as nbformat
+    from IPython.nbformat import write as nbwrite
+
 import numpy as np