Accessibility of graphics in STEM research articles: Analysis and proposals for improvement
Abstract
Images convey essential information in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics communication. Current guidelines on publishing recommend making images accessible to all readers. However, academic publishers do not always follow these guidelines and therefore fail to guarantee access by all readers to the visual content of academic articles. People with severe visual impairments cannot access the visual content of images unless a text alternative describing the images is provided. This study investigates the current use of texts commonly related to images in academic articles, such as captions and mentions, in order to assess their suitability as potential text alternatives to the images for readers who are blind or have severe low vision. A sample of 30 academic articles in the fields of biomedicine, computer science, and mathematics was analyzed and quantitative and qualitative data were collected about images and their related texts. We suggest a practical and sustainable solution that can foster the adoption of good accessibility practices by authors and publishers and facilitate their inclusion in regular publishing workflows.
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Inaccessible STEM materials represent a persistent barrier especially for blind and visually impaired learners.
“Given that inaccessible STEM materials represent a persistent barrier especially for blind and visually impaired learners [3,63], this oversight highlights a substantial gap in current accessibility infrastructures across several institutions.”
From Toward universal access to information: an analysis of digital accessibility policy readiness in U.S. public universities (2026) · cites this paper as [63]
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- Authors
- Splendiani, B., & Ribera, M.
- Affiliations
- Universitat de Barcelona (ES)
- Venue
- Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-04-02
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1507-1520
- ISSN
- 2330-1635 (ISSN-L)
- 2330-1643
- OpenAlex
- W1811031078
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 4.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Spanish Research, Development and Innovation Secretariat of State
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Digital Accessibility for Disabilities
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Academic Writing and Publishing
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Publishing and Scholarly Communication
- Keywords
- image accessibility, text alternatives, image captions, visual impairment, blind readers, low vision, biomedicine, mathematics
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