Accessibility Statement

How accessible is this website

This accessibility statement applies to the Journals Library website, www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk 

This website is run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also simplified the text used in the website, using plain English wherever this is possible. Some of our content is technical, and contains scientific terms and language. In those instances we have not been able to simplify the wording as this would change the meaning of the text.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

National Institute for Health and Care Research
School of Healthcare Enterprise and Innovation
University of Southampton
Alpha House, Enterprise Road
Southampton SO16 7NS
Email: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk 

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We aim to respond within 5 working days.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).

If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The NIHR is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance(s) listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Images on some pages do not always have suitable image descriptions (alt text).  This means assistive technologies will not always be able to describe the purpose or meaning to the user.  This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content) 
  • Some publications pages contain tables which utilise table header tags but they are empty.  This means there is not always a title to associate with the data cells.  This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.1 (Info and Relationships)
  • In the Information for Authors section the search form does not have a corresponding label.  Screen readers will therefore be unable to confirm the purpose to users.  This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content), 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships), 2.4.6 (Headings and Labels) and 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions)

Documents
Some of the documents provided on our site are in a non-HTML format, for example PDF.  They are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.  Wherever possible we are converting our existing PDFs into an accessible format.  If you need an accessible version of any of these documents email your request to journals.library@nihr.ac.uk. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared in September 2024.  It was last reviewed in November 2024.

The method for preparing for this statement was self-assessment checking against WCAG 2.2 AA standards as part of the design and build process, inline content editing accessibility checks and tools-based testing of pages across multiple browsers.  A further assessment will be carried out by a third party during the first quarter of 2025.