diff --git a/heudiconv/bids.py b/heudiconv/bids.py
index 40cd074..42283e6 100644
--- a/heudiconv/bids.py
+++ b/heudiconv/bids.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import csv
 from random import sample
 from glob import glob
 
-from heudiconv.external.pydicom import dcm
+from .external.pydicom import dcm
 
 from .parser import find_files
 from .utils import (
diff --git a/heudiconv/cli/run.py b/heudiconv/cli/run.py
index 0d984fc..f51d167 100644
--- a/heudiconv/cli/run.py
+++ b/heudiconv/cli/run.py
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ def get_parser():
     group.add_argument('--files', nargs='*',
                        help='Files (tarballs, dicoms) or directories '
                        'containing files to process. Cannot be provided if '
-                       'using --dicom_dir_template or --subjects')
+                       'using --dicom_dir_template.')
     parser.add_argument('-s', '--subjects', dest='subjs', type=str, nargs='*',
                         help='list of subjects - required for dicom template. '
                         'If not provided, DICOMS would first be "sorted" and '
@@ -173,8 +173,6 @@ def get_parser():
                         'single argument and return a single anonymized ID. '
                         'Also see --conv-outdir')
     parser.add_argument('-f', '--heuristic', dest='heuristic',
-                        # some commands might not need heuristic
-                        # required=True,
                         help='Name of a known heuristic or path to the Python'
                              'script containing heuristic')
     parser.add_argument('-p', '--with-prov', action='store_true',
@@ -221,7 +219,9 @@ def get_parser():
                             default=None,
                             help='batch system to submit jobs in parallel')
     submission.add_argument('--queue-args', dest='queue_args', default=None,
-                            help='Additional queue arguments')
+                            help='Additional queue arguments passed as '
+                            'single string of Argument=Value pairs space '
+                            'separated.')
     return parser
 
 
@@ -246,6 +246,13 @@ def process_args(args):
     if not args.heuristic:
         raise RuntimeError("No heuristic specified - add to arguments and rerun")
 
+    if args.queue:
+        lgr.info("Queuing %s conversion", args.queue)
+        iterarg, iterables = ("files", len(args.files)) if args.files else \
+                             ("subjects", len(args.subjs))
+        queue_conversion(args.queue, iterarg, iterables, args.queue_args)
+        sys.exit(0)
+
     heuristic = load_heuristic(args.heuristic)
 
     study_sessions = get_study_sessions(args.dicom_dir_template, args.files,
@@ -281,31 +288,6 @@ def process_args(args):
             lgr.warning("Skipping unknown locator dataset")
             continue
 
-        if args.queue:
-            # if seqinfo and not dicoms:
-            #     # flatten them all and provide into batching, which again
-            #     # would group them... heh
-            #     dicoms = sum(seqinfo.values(), [])
-            #     raise NotImplementedError(
-            #         "we already grouped them so need to add a switch to avoid "
-            #         "any grouping, so no outdir prefix doubled etc")
-
-            pyscript = op.abspath(inspect.getfile(inspect.currentframe()))
-
-            studyid = sid
-            if session:
-                studyid += "-%s" % session
-            if locator:
-                studyid += "-%s" % locator
-            # remove any separators
-            studyid = studyid.replace(op.sep, '_')
-
-            queue_conversion(pyscript,
-                             args.queue,
-                             studyid,
-                             args.queue_args)
-            continue
-
         anon_sid = anonymize_sid(sid, args.anon_cmd) if args.anon_cmd else None
         if args.anon_cmd:
             lgr.info('Anonymized {} to {}'.format(sid, anon_sid))
diff --git a/heudiconv/dicoms.py b/heudiconv/dicoms.py
index 13a200b..9ef9b9c 100644
--- a/heudiconv/dicoms.py
+++ b/heudiconv/dicoms.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import os.path as op
 import logging
 from collections import OrderedDict
 import tarfile
-from heudiconv.external.pydicom import dcm
 
+from .external.pydicom import dcm
 from .utils import SeqInfo, load_json, set_readonly
 
 lgr = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -55,10 +55,10 @@ def group_dicoms_into_seqinfos(files, file_filter, dcmfilter, grouping):
         lgr.info('Filtering out {0} dicoms based on their filename'.format(
             nfl_before-nfl_after))
     for fidx, filename in enumerate(files):
-        from heudiconv.external.dcmstack import ds
+        import nibabel.nicom.dicomwrappers as dw
         # TODO after getting a regression test check if the same behavior
         #      with stop_before_pixels=True
-        mw = ds.wrapper_from_data(dcm.read_file(filename, force=True))
+        mw = dw.wrapper_from_data(dcm.read_file(filename, force=True))
 
         for sig in ('iop', 'ICE_Dims', 'SequenceName'):
             try:
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ def embed_nifti(dcmfiles, niftifile, infofile, bids_info, min_meta):
     import re
 
     if not min_meta:
-        import dcmstack as ds
+        from heudiconv.external.dcmstack import ds
         stack = ds.parse_and_stack(dcmfiles, force=True).values()
         if len(stack) > 1:
             raise ValueError('Found multiple series')
diff --git a/heudiconv/external/dcmstack.py b/heudiconv/external/dcmstack.py
index 80ebc33..4e00eb2 100644
--- a/heudiconv/external/dcmstack.py
+++ b/heudiconv/external/dcmstack.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from .pydicom import dcm  # to assure that we have it one way or another
 try:
     import dcmstack as ds
 except ImportError as e:
-    from heudiconv import lgr
+    from .. import lgr
     # looks different between py2 and 3 so we go for very rudimentary matching
     e_str = str(e)
     # there were changes from how
diff --git a/heudiconv/queue.py b/heudiconv/queue.py
index ba8ad66..8e091ca 100644
--- a/heudiconv/queue.py
+++ b/heudiconv/queue.py
@@ -1,62 +1,112 @@
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import os
-
 import logging
 
+from .utils import which
+
 lgr = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-def queue_conversion(pyscript, queue, studyid, queue_args=None):
-        """
-        Write out conversion arguments to file and submit to a job scheduler.
-        Parses `sys.argv` for heudiconv arguments.
-
-        Parameters
-        ----------
-        pyscript: file
-            path to `heudiconv` script
-        queue: string
-            batch scheduler to use
-        studyid: string
-            identifier for conversion
-        queue_args: string (optional)
-            additional queue arguments for job submission
-
-        Returns
-        -------
-        proc: int
-            Queue submission exit code
-        """
-
-        SUPPORTED_QUEUES = {'SLURM': 'sbatch'}
-        if queue not in SUPPORTED_QUEUES:
-            raise NotImplementedError("Queuing with %s is not supported", queue)
-
-        args = sys.argv[1:]
-        # search args for queue flag
-        for i, arg in enumerate(args):
-            if arg in ["-q", "--queue"]:
-                break
-        if i == len(args) - 1:
-            raise RuntimeError(
-                "Queue flag not found (must be provided as a command-line arg)"
-            )
-        # remove queue flag and value
-        del args[i:i+2]
-
-        # make arguments executable again
-        args.insert(0, pyscript)
-        pypath = sys.executable or "python"
-        args.insert(0, pypath)
+def queue_conversion(queue, iterarg, iterables, queue_args=None):
+    """
+    Write out conversion arguments to file and submit to a job scheduler.
+    Parses `sys.argv` for heudiconv arguments.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    queue: string
+        Batch scheduler to use
+    iterarg: str
+        Multi-argument to index (`subjects` OR `files`)
+    iterables: int
+        Number of `iterarg` arguments
+    queue_args: string (optional)
+        Additional queue arguments for job submission
+
+    """
+
+    SUPPORTED_QUEUES = {'SLURM': 'sbatch'}
+    if queue not in SUPPORTED_QUEUES:
+        raise NotImplementedError("Queuing with %s is not supported", queue)
+
+    for i in range(iterables):
+        args = clean_args(sys.argv[1:], iterarg, i)
+        # make arguments executable
+        heudiconv_exec = which("heudiconv") or "heudiconv"
+        args.insert(0, heudiconv_exec)
         convertcmd = " ".join(args)
 
         # will overwrite across subjects
         queue_file = os.path.abspath('heudiconv-%s.sh' % queue)
         with open(queue_file, 'wt') as fp:
-            fp.writelines(['#!/bin/bash\n', convertcmd, '\n'])
+            fp.write("#!/bin/bash\n")
+            if queue_args:
+                for qarg in queue_args.split():
+                    fp.write("#SBATCH %s\n" % qarg)
+            fp.write(convertcmd + "\n")
 
         cmd = [SUPPORTED_QUEUES[queue], queue_file]
-        if queue_args:
-            cmd.insert(1, queue_args)
         proc = subprocess.call(cmd)
-        return proc
+    lgr.info("Submitted %d jobs", iterables)
+
+def clean_args(hargs, iterarg, iteridx):
+    """
+    Filters arguments for batch submission.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    hargs: list
+        Command-line arguments
+    iterarg: str
+        Multi-argument to index (`subjects` OR `files`)
+    iteridx: int
+        `iterarg` index to submit
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    cmdargs : list
+        Filtered arguments for batch submission
+
+    Example
+    --------
+    >>> from heudiconv.queue import clean_args
+    >>> cmd = ['heudiconv', '-d', '/some/{subject}/path',
+    ...                     '-q', 'SLURM',
+    ...                     '-s', 'sub-1', 'sub-2', 'sub-3', 'sub-4']
+    >>> clean_args(cmd, 'subjects', 0)
+    ['heudiconv', '-d', '/some/{subject}/path', '-s', 'sub-1']
+    """
+
+    if iterarg == "subjects":
+        iterarg = ['-s', '--subjects']
+    elif iterarg == "files":
+        iterarg = ['--files']
+    else:
+        raise ValueError("Cannot index %s" % iterarg)
+
+    # remove these or cause an infinite loop
+    queue_args = ['-q', '--queue', '--queue-args']
+
+    # control variables for multi-argument parsing
+    is_iterarg = False
+    itercount = 0
+
+    indicies = []
+    cmdargs = hargs[:]
+
+    for i, arg in enumerate(hargs):
+        if arg.startswith('-') and is_iterarg:
+            # moving on to another argument
+            is_iterarg = False
+        if is_iterarg:
+            if iteridx != itercount:
+                indicies.append(i)
+            itercount += 1
+        if arg in iterarg:
+            is_iterarg = True
+        if arg in queue_args:
+            indicies.extend([i, i+1])
+
+    for j in sorted(indicies, reverse=True):
+        del cmdargs[j]
+    return cmdargs
diff --git a/heudiconv/utils.py b/heudiconv/utils.py
index a4cc1c9..847dfaf 100644
--- a/heudiconv/utils.py
+++ b/heudiconv/utils.py
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ import os.path as op
 from pathlib import Path
 from collections import namedtuple
 from glob import glob
+from subprocess import check_output
+
+from nipype.utils.filemanip import which
 
 import logging
 lgr = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -103,18 +106,17 @@ def docstring_parameter(*sub):
 
 
 def anonymize_sid(sid, anon_sid_cmd):
-    import sys
-    from subprocess import check_output
-    
+
     cmd = [anon_sid_cmd, sid]
     shell_return = check_output(cmd)
 
-    ### Handle subprocess returning a bytes literal string to a python3 interpreter
-    if all([sys.version_info[0] > 2, isinstance(shell_return, bytes), isinstance(sid, str)]):
+    if all([sys.version_info[0] > 2,
+            isinstance(shell_return, bytes),
+            isinstance(sid, str)]):
         anon_sid = shell_return.decode()
     else:
         anon_sid = shell_return
-    
+
     return anon_sid.strip()
 
 

diff --git a/heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py b/heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py
index a90dd9b..8d80448 100644
--- a/heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py
+++ b/heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ import sys
 import subprocess
 
 from heudiconv.cli.run import main as runner
+from heudiconv.queue import clean_args, which
 from .utils import TESTS_DATA_PATH
 import pytest
-from nipype.utils.filemanip import which
 
 @pytest.mark.skipif(which("sbatch"), reason="skip a real slurm call")
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def test_queue_no_slurm(tmpdir, invocation):
     sys.argv = ['heudiconv'] + hargs
 
     try:
-        with pytest.raises(OSError):
+        with pytest.raises(OSError):  # SLURM should not be installed
             runner(hargs)
         # should have generated a slurm submission script
         slurm_cmd_file = (tmpdir / 'heudiconv-SLURM.sh').strpath
@@ -44,3 +44,50 @@ def test_queue_no_slurm(tmpdir, invocation):
     finally:
         # revert before breaking something
         sys.argv = _sys_args
+
+def test_argument_filtering(tmpdir):
+    cmd_files = [
+        'heudiconv',
+        '--files',
+        '/fake/path/to/files',
+        '/another/fake/path',
+        '-f',
+        'convertall',
+        '-q',
+        'SLURM',
+        '--queue-args',
+        '--cpus-per-task=4 --contiguous --time=10'
+    ]
+    filtered = [
+        'heudiconv',
+        '--files',
+        '/another/fake/path',
+        '-f',
+        'convertall',
+    ]
+    assert clean_args(cmd_files, 'files', 1) == filtered
+
+    cmd_subjects = [
+        'heudiconv',
+        '-d',
+        '/some/{subject}/path',
+        '--queue',
+        'SLURM',
+        '--subjects',
+        'sub1',
+        'sub2',
+        'sub3',
+        'sub4',
+        '-f',
+        'convertall'
+    ]
+    filtered = [
+        'heudiconv',
+        '-d',
+        '/some/{subject}/path',
+        '--subjects',
+        'sub3',
+        '-f',
+        'convertall'
+    ]
+    assert clean_args(cmd_subjects, 'subjects', 2) == filtered

Issues w/ slurm
Greetings, 

heudiconv version 0.5.3. 

I am trying to run a basic heudiconv on one subject for testing w/ slurm (running on two nodes, partition name = heudiconv) to create my heuristic. 

1) Command as follows: 

heudiconv -d /srv/lab/fmri/mft/dicom4bids/data/{subject}*/* -f /srv/lab/fmri/mft/dicom4bids/data/convertall.py -s sub01 -q heudiconv -o /srv/lab/fmri/mft/dicom4bids/data/output/

This yields: 
INFO: Running heudiconv version 0.5.3
INFO: Need to process 1 study sessions
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/anaconda3/envs/fmri/bin/heudiconv", line 11, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/usr/local/anaconda3/envs/fmri/lib/python3.5/site-packages/heudiconv/cli/run.py", line 125, in main
    process_args(args)
  File "/usr/local/anaconda3/envs/fmri/lib/python3.5/site-packages/heudiconv/cli/run.py", line 296, in process_args
    study_outdir,
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'study_outdir' referenced before assignment

2) Now, adding "-l unknown" to the above command executes, but does not create a .heudiconv folder: 
INFO: Running heudiconv version 0.5.3
INFO: Need to process 1 study sessions
WARNING: Skipping unknown locator dataset

3) Curiously, removing the -q flag and the -l flag executes the command properly and creates .heudiconv under /output:
INFO: Running heudiconv version 0.5.3
INFO: Need to process 1 study sessions
INFO: PROCESSING STARTS: {'session': None, 'outdir': '/srv/lab/fmri/mft/dicom4bids/data/output/', 'subject': 'sub01'}
INFO: Processing 4976 dicoms
INFO: Analyzing 4976 dicoms
INFO: Generated sequence info with 10 entries
INFO: PROCESSING DONE: {'session': None, 'outdir': '/srv/lab/fmri/mft/dicom4bids/data/output/', 'subject': 'sub01'}

4) Anyone else experienced these issues? How come that adding -q breaks the locator inference? I still believe that a working scheduler integration for heudiconv will be extremely valuable w/ increasing data sets and I am happy to contribute. Perhaps a starting point would be to clarify what the -l flag actually requires. In the help menu for -l, it says: study path under outdir. If provided, it overloads the value provided by the heuristic. If --datalad is enabled, every directory within locator becomes a super-dataset thus establishing a hierarchy. Setting to "unknown" will skip that dataset. 

Thanks in advance!



heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py::test_queue_no_slurm[--files heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py::test_queue_no_slurm[-d heudiconv/tests/test_queue.py::test_argument_filtering