diff --git a/skimage/__init__.py b/skimage/__init__.py
index a58f1c54..ab707d72 100644
--- a/skimage/__init__.py
+++ b/skimage/__init__.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ import os.path as _osp
 pkg_dir = _osp.abspath(_osp.dirname(__file__))
 data_dir = _osp.join(pkg_dir, 'data')
 
-from version import version as __version__
+from .version import version as __version__
 
 def _setup_test(verbose=False):
     import gzip