Open access journals lack image accessibility guidelines

In recent decades, there has been a move to “open” science and research. One component of open access is ‘accessibility,’ often used to mean data and other products are free to use by others. However, accessibility also refers to considering and meeting the needs of people with disabilities. Our objective was to evaluate how open access journals incorporate disability accessibility as part of publishing. Using a random sample of 300 English language journals and image accessibility as a lens, we assessed author guidelines. Of 289 journals with guidelines, 38 (13%) included color choice, 6 (∼2%) included contrast ratios, and none included alternative text. We also assessed the open access statements for the same 300 journals to understand how they conceive of openness and accessibility. Of the 298 journals with open access statements, 228 (∼77%) included the words ‘access’ or ‘accessibility.’ Yet none included ‘disability’ or ‘disabled’ and only 2 journals (<1%) mentioned ‘inclusive’ or ‘inclusion.’ Our findings indicate that open access journals sampled are not considering disability accessibility in their submission guidelines or open access frameworks. Incorporating disability accessibility into open scholarship considerations is critical to bridge, and not exacerbate, information inequalities for people with disabilities.