What is accessibility?

Accessibility is widely understood as the processes and practices involved to make information, environments, products, and services available to everyone. Your article, if accepted for publication, is required to meet accessibility standards in accordance with government mandates. This document outlines the requirements that apply to the article you submit. Please ensure your submission meets these requirements.

An accessible publication is one which:

• offers the maximum flexibility of user experience for all readers regardless of location or abilities
• allows its content to be accessed and manipulated with ease by those with or without disabilities
• considers visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive access needs

Why is accessibility important?

Accessibility is a right, not a privilege. Prioritizing accessibility is important for a number of reasons, including:

• Inclusivity: Making your research accessible promotes inclusivity by helping to provide better access to information. Inclusivity promotes equal access to learning and shared knowledge.
• Discoverability: Including alternative text improves search engine optimization for image-based content.
• Audience: Prioritizing accessibility expands the potential audience for research, increasing the chances of greater engagement and research impact.
• Accessibility policies: Importantly, meeting accessibility standards complies with legal requirements, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the European Accessibility Act.

Image Formatting

Color

Color is important for accessibility because it can affect the way someone receives information visually. The colors used in the images, figures, and tables in articles can affect the works accessibility.

Best practices in using color for accessibility

• Provide sufficient contrast between the text and the background.
• Don't rely on color alone to convey a message to the audience.
• Ensure any links are a different color to the main body of the text.

Understanding contrast in colors

The amount of contrast between two colors is a measure of the difference in perceived "luminance" or brightness between two colors. This brightness difference is expressed as a ratio between 1:1 (e.g. white on white) to 21:1 (black on white). For reference, this red has a contrast ratio of 4:1; this blue has a ratio of 8.6:1.

Color contrast requirements

When providing diagrams like charts and graphs that make use of color, the minimum contrast ratio between two adjacent colors required to adhere to the basic standard of acceptable accessibility is 3:1. Within a diagram, contrast between text and background needs to be greater than or equal to 4.5:1.

You can check the contrast between adjacent colors by using the sliders or dropper tools on WebAIM's contrast checker tool at https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/.

Alt Text for Images

What is alt text?

Alternative text, or "alt text", describes the visual content of images, charts, and tables. For visually impaired readers, screen reader software will play this text aloud when an image is navigated to. Alt text is required for all images.

Dos:

• BE INFORMATIVE: Describe what you see as concretely as possible. Consider why you chose this image instead of describing every detail.
• KEEP IT SHORT: In most cases, one sentence will be enough to describe the image so keep it to 1–2 sentences.
• REPEAT TEXT VERBATIM: If an image contains text, repeat that text verbatim in the alt text.
• INFORM CONTENT TYPE: If an image is a logo, illustration, painting, cartoon, map, musical score, screenshot, or video still, do include that information.
• PROVIDE ALT TEXT ALONG WITH CAPTIONS: Include your alt text descriptions along with your figure captions, wherever that may be according to the manuscript preparation guidelines.

Don'ts:

• DON'T USE FIGURE CAPTIONS AS YOUR ALT TEXT. If information is available in the main text or the captions, do not repeat it in the alt text. If the main text thoroughly describes the image, include alt text stating that a full description is in the main text.
• DON'T USE "IMAGE OF" OR "PICTURE OF": Screen readers will automatically say "image of" or "picture of" before reading the alt text.
• DON'T MAKE IT COMPLICATED: Use plain language and be concise rather than use excessive jargon or figurative language.
• DON'T SOLELY RELY ON WORD'S ALT TEXT TOOL: Word allows the embedding of alt text under Format Picture and Tables Properties, but please include alt text in the Word doc next to the figure captions.

Resources for Image Formatting

• The Describing Visual Resources Toolkit is an excellent resource for all things related to images and digital accessibility:
• Try this Image Accessibility Creator from Arizona State University to get acclimated with the idea of how to write alt text.
• Write helpful Alt Text to describe images, Harvard University Information Technology
• Step-by-Step Instructions for Writing Alt Text, University of South Carolina

Table Formatting

Here are the best practices for creating accessible tables that can be read by screen readers.

Dos:

• Keep the overall table structure as simple as possible.
• Create your table in Word and use the table tool rather than creating it with manual spaces and tabs.
• Include a designated header row. The first row of the table should state what kind of information is contained in each column.
  • To designate a header row, highlight it, right click, and select table properties. In Table Properties, select the Row tab and check the box "Repeat as header row at the top of each page." Make sure that the box "Allow row to break across pages" is unchecked.
• Make sure your table title (or caption) is descriptive and portrays the overall context or purpose of the table.
• If a table includes images, provide alt text for each image.
• Fill any blank cells with "n/a" or a dash (-) to indicate there is more to come otherwise it will indicate that there is no further content.
• Once complete, try navigating through your table using only the tab key. If you can use the tab key to move through the table cell by cell and row by row starting at the top left cell and ending in the bottom right cell, a screen reader will have no trouble reading it.

Don'ts:

• Do not use the Draw Table Tool as it creates a graphic that is inaccessible to screen readers.
• Do not put the title within the table; it should go above the table.
• Avoid merged, blank, or split cells.
• Do not nest tables within tables.
• Avoid blank rows or columns.
• Avoid using color as the only means of conveying meaning. Acceptable approaches could include text labels in the cell; patterns or shapes; formatting bold, italics, or underlining (sparingly) combined with textual explanation; position or context, if reliably communicated through headers or captions.
• Do not provide a screenshot or image of a table.

Alt Text for Tables

Is alt text required for tables?

• If a table must be provided as an image (png, tiff, jpeg, etc) of a table rather than created in Word, it will require alt text.
• If a table is complex and relies on visual formatting (color, bold or italicized fonts, etc.) to convey meaning, it will require alt text.
• If a table contains images, the images within the table will require alt text.
• If you have carefully constructed a table using the accessibility guidance of Microsoft Word, it will not require alt text.

Resources for Creating Tables

• Video: Create Accessible Tables in Word Tips to designing accessible tables (Rick Hansen)
• How to Build an Accessible Table (Dallas College)

Additional Resources

Please visit our Accessibility in Scholarly Publishing: Resources Help Center page for a list of various resources available to you for accessibility remediation. This list is periodically updated.