A proposal for the inclusion of accessibility criteria in the publishing workflow of images in

biomedical academic articles

Bruno Splendiani & Mireia RiberaUniversitat de Barcelona

Adaptabit group

Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion

DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Visual content is important

Average count from a previous analysis of biomedical articles (1)

Figure count Page count Figures per page

38 97 0.4

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Process oriented accessibility

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Born digital must be born accessible

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Behaviour change wheel (BCW)

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BCW applied to submission workflowComponent Intervention

functionAction Actors

Capability Education Inform authors about readers with disabilities. Offer simulations of perceived images

Publisher

Training Provide guidelines, examples and evaluation tools Publisher

Opportunity Enablement Improve image editing tools Software developers

Restriction Introduce validations Publisher

Environmental restructuring

Introduce accessibility criteria Publisher

Motivation Persuasion Inform about disabilities prevalence Publisher

Inform about legal requirements Publisher

Incentivisation Inform about findability benefits Publisher

Rewards to accessible images Publisher

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DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Image text alternatives

decision tree

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DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Checklist: all types of figures

• Is the image clearly identified? Identify it.• Does the figure use labels? Explain labels, including

symbols, letters, arrows and numbers. • Does the figure use abbreviations? Explain

abbreviations and acronyms.• Does the figure convey information by colors? Explain

the meaning conveyed by colors. • Has any modification/ adjustment/ enhancement

been applied to the figure? Explain it• Does the figure refer to an external source? Specify itJune 10-12, 2015

DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Checklist: statistical graphics

• Does the image include variables? Describe the variables.

• Does the figure show Cartesian coordinates? Describe the units of measurement

• Does the image provide a statistical analysis?o include statistical significanceo type of analysiso information about the sampleo standard deviation, etc.

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DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Checklist: Medicine and Biology

• Does the figure highlight areas of interest? Explain them

• Has a magnification been applied to the figure? Specify the scale

• Has the figure been acquired by a specific modality? Specify it

• Is the clinical background included? Describe it

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DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Checklist: Medicine

• Has a specific cut type been applied to the figure? Specify it.

• Has any reconstruction been applied to the figure? Specify it.

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Informal validation

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References

1) Splendiani B, Ribera M. Accessibility of Graphics in STEM Research Articles: Analysis and Proposals for Improvement. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST).

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DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Image credits

• Baby with computer http://pixabay.com/es/beb%C3%A9-ni%C3%B1o-la-infancia-equipo-84627/

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DSAI 2015 - Sankt Augustin, Germany

Thank youQuestions?

Try the checklist with your own images

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