diff --git a/.Rbuildignore b/.Rbuildignore
index fce6713..eda25cf 100644
--- a/.Rbuildignore
+++ b/.Rbuildignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@
 ^docs$
 ^pkgdown$
 ^cran-comments\.md$
+^CRAN-SUBMISSION$
diff --git a/CRAN-SUBMISSION b/CRAN-SUBMISSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5deb649
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CRAN-SUBMISSION
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Version: 0.0.1
+Date: 2024-09-09 04:24:18 UTC
+SHA: fe32ae4e4f7c9d5917c8ecd81c2746bf012804b4
diff --git a/R/mat.R b/R/mat.R
index 23689df..43da589 100644
--- a/R/mat.R
+++ b/R/mat.R
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 #'
 #' # ---- Matlab .mat --------------------------------------------------------
 #'
+#' if(interactive()) {
+#'
 #' f <- tempfile(fileext = ".mat")
 #'
 #' x <- list(a = 1L, b = 2.3, c = "a", d = 1+1i)
@@ -16,8 +18,6 @@
 #'
 #' io_read_mat(f)
 #'
-#' \dontrun{
-#'
 #' # require setting up Python environment
 #'
 #' io_read_mat(f, method = "pymatreader")
@@ -26,11 +26,11 @@
 #' sample_data <- ieegio_sample_data("mat_v73.mat")
 #' io_read_mat(sample_data)
 #'
+#' # clean up
+#' unlink(f)
 #'
 #' }
 #'
-#' # clean up
-#' unlink(f)
 #'
 #' @export
 io_read_mat <- function(con, method = c("auto", "R.matlab", "pymatreader", "mat73"),
@@ -197,7 +197,9 @@ io_read_mat <- function(con, method = c("auto", "R.matlab", "pymatreader", "mat7
 
 #' @rdname low-level-read-write
 #' @export
-io_write_mat <- function(x, con, ...) {
+io_write_mat <- function(x, con, method = c("R.matlab", "scipy"), ...) {
+
+  method <- match.arg(method)
 
   if(!is.list(x)) {
     stop("`write_mat`: `x` must be a named list.")
@@ -213,7 +215,20 @@ io_write_mat <- function(x, con, ...) {
     stop("`write_mat`: `x` must NOT contain the following reserved names: ", paste(sQuote(reserved), collapse = ", "))
   }
 
-  args <- c( list( con = con ), x )
+  con <- normalizePath(con, winslash = "/", mustWork = FALSE)
+
+  switch(
+    method,
+    "R.matlab" = {
+      args <- c( list( con = con ), x )
+
+      do.call(R.matlab::writeMat, args)
+    },
+    "scipy" = {
+      scipy_io <- import_py_module("scipy.io", "scipy")
+      scipy_io$savemat(con, x)
+    }
+  )
 
-  do.call(R.matlab::writeMat, args)
+  invisible(con)
 }
diff --git a/man/low-level-read-write.Rd b/man/low-level-read-write.Rd
index be28c17..4879631 100644
--- a/man/low-level-read-write.Rd
+++ b/man/low-level-read-write.Rd
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ io_read_mat(
   ...
 )
 
-io_write_mat(x, con, ...)
+io_write_mat(x, con, method = c("R.matlab", "scipy"), ...)
 
 io_read_yaml(con, ...)
 
@@ -159,6 +159,8 @@ unlink(f)
 
 # ---- Matlab .mat --------------------------------------------------------
 
+if(interactive()) {
+
 f <- tempfile(fileext = ".mat")
 
 x <- list(a = 1L, b = 2.3, c = "a", d = 1+1i)
@@ -168,8 +170,6 @@ io_write_mat(x, f)
 
 io_read_mat(f)
 
-\dontrun{
-
 # require setting up Python environment
 
 io_read_mat(f, method = "pymatreader")
@@ -178,11 +178,11 @@ io_read_mat(f, method = "pymatreader")
 sample_data <- ieegio_sample_data("mat_v73.mat")
 io_read_mat(sample_data)
 
+# clean up
+unlink(f)
 
 }
 
-# clean up
-unlink(f)
 
 
 # ---- yaml ---------------------------------------------------------------