diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9966533d2862cb8da2f8abc21f36d7fba4629570..c6a31fbc4829087433fe29bf21d8b8d46a5a8b11 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ To install the required packages in a conda environment, execute:
 
 Note that NEST needs to be installed separately, see <http://www.nest-simulator.org/installation/>.
 
+In addition, reproducing the figures of Schmidt et al. (2017) requires python-igraph and networkx. To install these additional packages, execute:
+
+`pip install -r figures/Schmidt2017/additional_requirements.txt`
+
+The SLN fit in `multiarea_model/data_multiarea/VisualCortex_Data.py` and `figures/Schmidt2017/Fig5_cc_laminar_pattern.py` requires an installation of R and the R library `aod` (<http://cran.r-project.org/package=aod>). Without R installation, both scripts will directly use the resulting values of the fit (see Fig. 5 of [1]).
+
 ## Contributors
 
 All authors of the publications [1-3] made contributions to the scientific content.
@@ -183,6 +189,6 @@ The code base was written by Maximilian Schmidt, Jannis Schuecker, and Sacha van
 
 ## Citation
 
-If you use this code, we ask you to cite the appropriate papers in your publication. For the multi-area model itself, please [1] and [3]. If you use the mean-field theory or the stabilization method, please cite [2] in addition. We provide bibtex entries in `CITATION`.
+If you use this code, we ask you to cite the appropriate papers in your publication. For the multi-area model itself, please cite [1] and [3]. If you use the mean-field theory or the stabilization method, please cite [2] in addition. We provide bibtex entries in `CITATION`.
 
 <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nest/nest-simulator/master/extras/logos/nest-simulated.png" alt="NEST simulated" width="200"/>
diff --git a/figures/Schmidt2017/Fig5_cc_laminar_pattern.py b/figures/Schmidt2017/Fig5_cc_laminar_pattern.py
index 40f1ad17bdba806bde910a8f1d38bc944e4fca6d..f46a51c06f5c6dee3c13bc0cacd74d7a29a891c6 100644
--- a/figures/Schmidt2017/Fig5_cc_laminar_pattern.py
+++ b/figures/Schmidt2017/Fig5_cc_laminar_pattern.py
@@ -147,12 +147,17 @@ Fit of SLN vs. architectural type differences
 SLN_array = np.array(data[:, 10], dtype=np.float)
 densities = np.array(data[:, 7], dtype=np.float)
 
-proc = subprocess.Popen(
-    ["Rscript", os.path.join(datapath, 'SLN_logdensities.R')],
-    stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-out = proc.communicate()[0].decode('utf-8')
-R_fit = [float(out.split('\n')[1].split(' ')[1]),
-         float(out.split('\n')[1].split(' ')[3])]
+# Call R script to perform SLN fit
+try:
+    proc = subprocess.Popen(["Rscript",
+                             os.path.join(datapath, 'SLN_logdensities.R')],
+                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+    out = proc.communicate()[0].decode('utf-8')
+    R_fit = [float(out.split('\n')[1].split(' ')[1]),
+             float(out.split('\n')[1].split(' ')[3])]
+except OSError:
+    print("No R installation, taking hard-coded fit parameters.")
+    R_fit = [-0.1516142, -1.5343200]
 
 print(R_fit)
 ax = axes['A']
diff --git a/figures/Schmidt2017/additional_requirements.txt b/figures/Schmidt2017/additional_requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d60715850a454f9bd0f746c1ae3e834cb8284731
--- /dev/null
+++ b/figures/Schmidt2017/additional_requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+python-igraph
+networkx