diff --git a/cached_data_used/cachefiles/ktt_values_to_kerneltuner.py b/cached_data_used/cachefiles/ktt_values_to_kerneltuner.py
index 79ca3d8..5b3d27f 100644
--- a/cached_data_used/cachefiles/ktt_values_to_kerneltuner.py
+++ b/cached_data_used/cachefiles/ktt_values_to_kerneltuner.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
         # print(f"Replacing {kt_old_objective_value} with {kt_new_objective_value}")
 
     # load the individual lines of the file
-    with kerneltuner_cachefile.open(mode="r") as fp:
+    with kerneltuner_cachefile.open(mode="r", encoding="utf-8") as fp:
         lines = fp.readlines()
         cache_start = False
     # write the new data to file
diff --git a/extra/bootstrap_hyperparams_visualizer.py b/extra/bootstrap_hyperparams_visualizer.py
index e873a8c..90101d4 100755
--- a/extra/bootstrap_hyperparams_visualizer.py
+++ b/extra/bootstrap_hyperparams_visualizer.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 
 def reload_cache():
-    with open("../cached_data_used/cache_files/bootstrap_hyperparamtuning.json", "r") as fh:
+    with open("../cached_data_used/cache_files/bootstrap_hyperparamtuning.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
         contents = fh.read()
         try:
             data = json.loads(contents)
@@ -329,8 +329,10 @@ def plot_parallel_coordinates(subfigure, hyperparams: dict, isnumeric: list, one
         scaled_cmap = cmap(y_valid)
     else:
         diff = y_valid_max - y_valid_min
+
         def rescale(v):
             return (v - y_valid_min) / diff
+
         scaled_cmap = cmap(rescale(y_valid))
 
     # obtain the hyperparameters for a parallel coordinates plot
diff --git a/extra/max_draw_k_from_n.py b/extra/max_draw_k_from_n.py
index e3d6093..40bcf8d 100644
--- a/extra/max_draw_k_from_n.py
+++ b/extra/max_draw_k_from_n.py
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def get_indices(dist, draws):
     # path = '../../old_cached_data_used/cache_files/pnpoly_RTX_2070_SUPER.json'
     # path = '../../old_cached_data_used/cache_files/GEMM_RTX_2070_SUPER.json'
     path = "../../cached_data_used/cachefiles/GEMM/RTX_2080_Ti.json"
-    with open(path, "r") as myfile:
+    with open(path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as myfile:
         data = myfile.read()
     data = json.loads(data)
     times = []
diff --git a/src/autotuning_methodology/experiments.py b/src/autotuning_methodology/experiments.py
index 187f359..382347b 100755
--- a/src/autotuning_methodology/experiments.py
+++ b/src/autotuning_methodology/experiments.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def get_experiment(filename: str) -> dict:
     schemafile = get_experiment_schema_filepath()
 
     # open the experiment file and validate using the schema file
-    with open(path) as file, open(schemafile) as schemafile:
+    with open(path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as file, open(schemafile, "r", encoding="utf-8") as schemafile:
         schema = json.load(schemafile)
         experiment: dict = json.load(file)
         validate(instance=experiment, schema=schema)
diff --git a/src/autotuning_methodology/searchspace_statistics.py b/src/autotuning_methodology/searchspace_statistics.py
index d4276d3..9fe2c06 100644
--- a/src/autotuning_methodology/searchspace_statistics.py
+++ b/src/autotuning_methodology/searchspace_statistics.py
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ def _to_valid_array(self, cache_values: list[dict], key: str, performance: bool)
     def _load(self) -> bool:
         """Load the contents of the cache file."""
         filepath = self.get_valid_filepath()
-        with open(filepath, "r") as fh:
+        with open(filepath, "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
             print(f"Loading statistics for {filepath}...")
             # get the cache from the .json file
             orig_contents = fh.read()
diff --git a/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_run_experiment.py b/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_run_experiment.py
index 3fabb63..35b7220 100644
--- a/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_run_experiment.py
+++ b/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_run_experiment.py
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def validate_experiment_results(
 
     # validate the contents
     schemafilepath = get_experiment_schema_filepath()
-    with open(schemafilepath) as schemafile:
+    with open(schemafilepath, "r", encoding="utf-8") as schemafile:
         schema = json.load(schemafile)
         validate(instance=experiment, schema=schema)
     kernel_name = experiment["kernels"][0]
diff --git a/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_visualization.py b/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_visualization.py
index 9247f78..97e34dc 100644
--- a/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_visualization.py
+++ b/tests/autotuning_methodology/integration/test_visualization.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""Integration test for visualization and quantification."""
+"""Integration test for visualization."""
 
 from pathlib import Path