Accessibility
As part of our vision of a healthier world we want to make evidence-based resources available to as many people as possible. Each year we support more than 50 million users from over 150 countries to access our websites and products.
A key part of achieving our vision is to ensure our content is accessible to everyone, both through innovative technical solutions and through jargon-free, practical and customisable evidence-based content. We believe that everyone, regardless of their abilities, should have seamless access to the information and tools we provide.
Our current accessibility status and path forward
We understand that our users rely on us for accessible content, and we value your feedback. We acknowledge that, at present, our products and services may not yet fully conform to all aspects of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. We are actively working to address these areas for improvement and are committed to enhancing the accessibility and usability of our digital offerings for everyone.
Our objective is to embed accessibility by design into our development lifecycle, with a commitment to achieve conformance with these internationally recognised guidelines. We’re implementing a comprehensive, multi-year accessibility roadmap to systematically address existing barriers and integrate accessibility into our ongoing operations. This roadmap is specifically designed to drive continuous progress towards WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance across our products and services.
Our accessibility roadmap: our detailed plan in action
1. Systematic audits and prioritisation:
We are conducting structured accessibility assessments across our portfolio of over 200 websites and mobile applications to identify areas where improvements are needed relative to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. These assessments leverage a combination of automated tools, manual testing by internal teams, and independent expert audits. Based on these assessments and user feedback, we are prioritising remediation efforts to address the most impactful accessibility barriers first, ensuring a meaningful improvement in user experience.
2. Dedicated remediation and development: We are in the process of allocating dedicated resources and development cycles to implement necessary technical, design, and content modifications identified in our assessments. This ongoing work covers both our existing and new platforms. Key areas of focus include, but are not limited to:
- Improving keyboard navigation for all interactive elements
- Providing meaningful alternative text for images to ensure screen reader compatibility.
- Ensuring accurate captions and transcripts for all video and audio content.
- Optimising colour contrast ratios for enhanced readability.
- Making online forms accessible with clear labelling and error handling.
- Utilising semantic HTML and proper heading structures for clear content organisation.
3. Integrating accessibility by design: Our commitment includes ensuring that all new product development and significant feature enhancements will incorporate accessibility best practices from the earliest design and development stages. This proactive approach aims to build accessible experiences from the ground up. To support this integration, our product, design, and development teams are initiating an ongoing training program in accessible design and coding practices.
4. Continuous improvement and governance: We have established an internal Accessibility Working group comprising cross-functional representatives. This group oversees progress, shares best practices, and ensures accessibility remains a core consideration across our organisation. We will conduct periodic re-assessments of our platforms to monitor conformance and track progress towards our accessibility goals. We are committed to fostering a culture where accessibility is an integral part of our operations.
How we test our products and services
To validate our progress and ensure adherence to our accessibility goals, we are establishing and implementing a multi-faceted testing approach. In our efforts to identify and address accessibility issues, we utilise methods such as:
- Automated accessibility tools: Used to identify common, detectable issues during development and quality assurance.
- Manual testing: Conducted by our internal teams, including keyboard-only navigation and screen reader testing.
- Expert audits: We work with independent accessibility experts to perform comprehensive evaluations and provide objective insights.
- User feedback: We encourage and value feedback from our users, particularly those who use assistive technologies, as their direct experiences are invaluable for guiding our improvements. All feedback provided via our support channels is carefully reviewed to inform our accessibility initiatives.
Support and feedback
Your feedback is crucial to our ongoing efforts. If you encounter any barriers accessing our content or have suggestions for how we can further improve the accessibility of our websites and mobile applications, please contact our dedicated support team. While we strive to resolve issues promptly, we appreciate your patience as we work through our comprehensive accessibility roadmap.
- Email: accessibility@bmj.com
- Call: +44 (020) 7387 4410
- Write to: BMJ Publishing Group Limited, 5th floor, 90 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 4EZ
This statement was last updated: June 2025.
