diff --git a/ApplicationCode/Application/Tools/RiaStatisticsTools.cpp b/ApplicationCode/Application/Tools/RiaStatisticsTools.cpp
index 28df7c48da..5a72e901e9 100644
--- a/ApplicationCode/Application/Tools/RiaStatisticsTools.cpp
+++ b/ApplicationCode/Application/Tools/RiaStatisticsTools.cpp
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ const QString RiaStatisticsTools::replacePercentileByPValueText( const QString&
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 double RiaStatisticsTools::pearsonCorrelation( const std::vector<double>& xValues, const std::vector<double>& yValues )
 {
-#ifdef OWN_IMPLEMENTATION
+#ifdef USE_GSL
+    return gsl_stats_correlation( xValues.data(), 1, yValues.data(), 1, xValues.size() );
+#else
     const double eps = 1.0e-8;
     if ( xValues.size() != yValues.size() ) return 0.0;
     if ( xValues.empty() ) return 0.0;
@@ -88,8 +90,6 @@ double RiaStatisticsTools::pearsonCorrelation( const std::vector<double>& xValue
     if ( sumxDiffSquared < eps || sumyDiffSquared < eps ) return 0.0;
 
     return sumNumerator / ( std::sqrt( sumxDiffSquared ) * std::sqrt( sumyDiffSquared ) );
-#else
-    return gsl_stats_correlation( xValues.data(), 1, yValues.data(), 1, xValues.size() );
 #endif
 }
 
@@ -98,6 +98,10 @@ double RiaStatisticsTools::pearsonCorrelation( const std::vector<double>& xValue
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 double RiaStatisticsTools::spearmanCorrelation( const std::vector<double>& xValues, const std::vector<double>& yValues )
 {
+#ifdef USE_GSL
     std::vector<double> work( 2 * xValues.size() );
     return gsl_stats_spearman( xValues.data(), 1, yValues.data(), 1, xValues.size(), work.data() );
+#else
+    return 0.0;
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationMatrixPlot.cpp b/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationMatrixPlot.cpp
index fa26d094ba..968b496896 100644
--- a/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationMatrixPlot.cpp
+++ b/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationMatrixPlot.cpp
@@ -243,13 +243,13 @@ void RimCorrelationMatrixPlot::updateAxes()
 {
     if ( !m_plotWidget ) return;
 
+    m_plotWidget->setAxisScaleDraw( QwtPlot::yLeft, new TextScaleDraw( m_resultLabels ) );
     m_plotWidget->setAxisScaleEngine( QwtPlot::yLeft, new RiuQwtLinearScaleEngine );
     m_plotWidget->setAxisTitleText( QwtPlot::yLeft, "Result Vector" );
     m_plotWidget->setAxisTitleEnabled( QwtPlot::yLeft, true );
     m_plotWidget->setAxisFontsAndAlignment( QwtPlot::yLeft, 11, 7, false, Qt::AlignCenter );
     m_plotWidget->setAxisLabelsAndTicksEnabled( QwtPlot::yLeft, true, false );
     m_plotWidget->setAxisRange( QwtPlot::yLeft, 0.0, (double)m_resultLabels.size() + 1 );
-    m_plotWidget->setAxisScaleDraw( QwtPlot::yLeft, new TextScaleDraw( m_resultLabels ) );
     m_plotWidget->setMajorAndMinorTickIntervalsAndRange( QwtPlot::yLeft,
                                                          1.0,
                                                          0.0,
diff --git a/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationPlot.cpp b/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationPlot.cpp
index 9364c14a76..eb434620f1 100644
--- a/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationPlot.cpp
+++ b/ApplicationCode/ProjectDataModel/CorrelationPlots/RimCorrelationPlot.cpp
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ template <>
 void caf::AppEnum<RimCorrelationPlot::CorrelationFactor>::setUp()
 {
     addItem( RimCorrelationPlot::CorrelationFactor::PEARSON, "PEARSON", "Pearson Correlation Coefficient" );
+#ifdef USE_GSL
     addItem( RimCorrelationPlot::CorrelationFactor::SPEARMAN, "SPEARMAN", "Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient" );
+#endif
     setDefault( RimCorrelationPlot::CorrelationFactor::PEARSON );
 }
 } // namespace caf
@@ -66,7 +68,7 @@ RimCorrelationPlot::RimCorrelationPlot()
 
     CAF_PDM_InitFieldNoDefault( &m_correlationFactor, "CorrelationFactor", "Correlation Factor", "", "", "" );
     m_correlationFactor.uiCapability()->setUiEditorTypeName( caf::PdmUiComboBoxEditor::uiEditorTypeName() );
-    CAF_PDM_InitField( &m_showAbsoluteValues, "CorrelationAbsValues", true, "Show Absolute Values", "", "", "" );
+    CAF_PDM_InitField( &m_showAbsoluteValues, "CorrelationAbsValues", false, "Show Absolute Values", "", "", "" );
     CAF_PDM_InitField( &m_sortByAbsoluteValues, "CorrelationAbsSorting", true, "Sort by Absolute Values", "", "", "" );
 }
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c3ea600e29..77c4972428 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -327,15 +327,17 @@ list(APPEND THIRD_PARTY_LIBRARIES
 # GNU GSL
 ################################################################################
 
-if(NOT EXISTS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/ThirdParty/gsl/CMakeLists.txt")
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "The GSL submodule was not downloaded! GIT_SUBMODULE was turned off or failed. Please update submodules and try again.")
+option(GSL_ENABLE "Enable the GNU Scientific Library for Statistics" ON)
+if(GSL_ENABLE)
+	if (NOT EXISTS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/ThirdParty/gsl/CMakeLists.txt")
+		message(FATAL_ERROR "The GSL submodule was not downloaded! GIT_SUBMODULE was turned off or failed. Please update submodules and try again.")
+	endif()
+	option(GSL_DISABLE_TESTS "Disable the GSL tests" ON)
+	add_subdirectory(ThirdParty/gsl)
+	add_definitions(-DUSE_GSL)
+	list(APPEND THIRD_PARTY_LIBRARIES gsl)
 endif()
 
-add_subdirectory(ThirdParty/gsl)
-
-list(APPEND THIRD_PARTY_LIBRARIES
-    gsl
-)
 
 ################################################################################
 # Thirdparty libraries are put in ThirdParty solution folder