diff --git a/doc/ext/docscrape.py b/doc/ext/docscrape.py
index ad5998cc..85e9d4a5 100644
--- a/doc/ext/docscrape.py
+++ b/doc/ext/docscrape.py
@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ import pydoc
 from StringIO import StringIO
 from warnings import warn
 
+# Python2/3 compatibility
+import sys
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
+if PY2:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.iteritems()
+else:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.items()
+
+
 class Reader(object):
     """A line-based string reader.
 
@@ -369,7 +378,7 @@ class NumpyDocString(object):
         idx = self['index']
         out = []
         out += ['.. index:: %s' % idx.get('default','')]
-        for section, references in idx.iteritems():
+        for section, references in iteritems(idx):
             if section == 'default':
                 continue
             out += ['   :%s: %s' % (section, ', '.join(references))]
diff --git a/doc/ext/docscrape_sphinx.py b/doc/ext/docscrape_sphinx.py
index 9f4350d4..45e73670 100644
--- a/doc/ext/docscrape_sphinx.py
+++ b/doc/ext/docscrape_sphinx.py
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@ import re, inspect, textwrap, pydoc
 import sphinx
 from docscrape import NumpyDocString, FunctionDoc, ClassDoc
 
+# Python2/3 compatibility
+import sys
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
+if PY2:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.iteritems()
+else:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.items()
+
+
 class SphinxDocString(NumpyDocString):
     def __init__(self, docstring, config={}):
         self.use_plots = config.get('use_plots', False)
@@ -127,7 +136,7 @@ class SphinxDocString(NumpyDocString):
             return out
 
         out += ['.. index:: %s' % idx.get('default','')]
-        for section, references in idx.iteritems():
+        for section, references in iteritems(idx):
             if section == 'default':
                 continue
             elif section == 'refguide':
diff --git a/doc/ext/plot_directive.py b/doc/ext/plot_directive.py
index dc86552b..1b706f38 100644
--- a/doc/ext/plot_directive.py
+++ b/doc/ext/plot_directive.py
@@ -132,6 +132,14 @@ except ImportError:
     def format_template(template, **kw):
         return jinja.from_string(template, **kw)
 
+# Python2/3 compatibility
+import sys
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
+if PY2:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.iteritems()
+else:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.items()
+
 import matplotlib
 import matplotlib.cbook as cbook
 matplotlib.use('Agg')
@@ -234,7 +242,7 @@ def mark_plot_labels(app, document):
     the "htmlonly" (or "latexonly") node to the actual figure node
     itself.
     """
-    for name, explicit in document.nametypes.iteritems():
+    for name, explicit in iteritems(document.nametypes):
         if not explicit:
             continue
         labelid = document.nameids[name]
diff --git a/skimage/viewer/plugins/base.py b/skimage/viewer/plugins/base.py
index aa6b585a..13604695 100644
--- a/skimage/viewer/plugins/base.py
+++ b/skimage/viewer/plugins/base.py
@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ from ..qt.QtCore import Qt
 from ..utils import RequiredAttr, init_qtapp
 
 
+# Python2/3 compatibility
+import sys
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
+if PY2:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.iteritems()
+else:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.items()
+
+
 class Plugin(QtGui.QDialog):
     """Base class for plugins that interact with an ImageViewer.
 
@@ -153,7 +162,7 @@ class Plugin(QtGui.QDialog):
             return
         arguments = [self._get_value(a) for a in self.arguments]
         kwargs = dict([(name, self._get_value(a))
-                       for name, a in self.keyword_arguments.iteritems()])
+                       for name, a in iteritems(self.keyword_arguments)])
         filtered = self.image_filter(*arguments, **kwargs)
         self.display_filtered_image(filtered)
 
diff --git a/skimage/viewer/utils/core.py b/skimage/viewer/utils/core.py
index 0b97d8c3..642e8aa7 100644
--- a/skimage/viewer/utils/core.py
+++ b/skimage/viewer/utils/core.py
@@ -21,6 +21,13 @@ except ImportError:
 
 from ..qt import QtGui
 
+# Python2/3 compatibility
+import sys
+PY2 = sys.version_info[0] == 2
+if PY2:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.iteritems()
+else:
+    iteritems = lambda d: d.items()
 
 __all__ = ['init_qtapp', 'start_qtapp', 'RequiredAttr', 'figimage',
            'LinearColormap', 'ClearColormap', 'FigureCanvas', 'new_plot']
@@ -81,7 +88,7 @@ class LinearColormap(LinearSegmentedColormap):
     """
     def __init__(self, name, segmented_data, **kwargs):
         segmented_data = dict((key, [(x, y, y) for x, y in value])
-                              for key, value in segmented_data.iteritems())
+                              for key, value in iteritems(segmented_data))
         LinearSegmentedColormap.__init__(self, name, segmented_data, **kwargs)