Our commitment to digital accessibility

As part of our vision of a healthier world, BMJ Group is committed to making our resources available to as many people as possible. Each year, we support more than 80 million users from over 150 countries across our websites and products.

We believe everyone should have clear, practical and reliable access to the information and tools we provide. Accessibility is therefore an important part of how we design, develop and improve our digital products and services.

Our current accessibility status

We are working towards conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA, the internationally recognised standard for digital accessibility.

We acknowledge that some of our products and services may not yet fully conform to all aspects of WCAG 2.2 Level AA. We are actively addressing these areas through a multi-year accessibility roadmap, with the aim of improving accessibility and usability across our digital portfolio.

Our accessibility roadmap

Our roadmap is designed to embed accessibility by design into our development lifecycle, address existing barriers, and support continuous progress towards WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance.

Systematic audits and prioritisation

Over the last 12 months, we have carried out structured accessibility assessments across our core portfolio of websites and mobile applications. These assessments use automated tools, manual testing by internal teams, and independent expert audits.

We use the findings, together with user feedback, to prioritise remediation work and address the barriers likely to have the greatest impact on user experience.

Dedicated remediation and development

We are allocating dedicated resources and development cycles to make technical, design and content improvements across existing and new platforms. Areas of focus include:

• improving keyboard navigation for interactive elements
• providing meaningful alternative text for images
• supporting captions and transcripts for video and audio content
• optimising colour contrast for readability
• making forms accessible with clear labels and error handling
• using semantic HTML and clear heading structures.

Accessibility by design

We are incorporating accessibility best practice into new product development and significant feature enhancements from the earliest design and development stages.

Our product, design and development teams are completing ongoing training in accessible design and coding practice. We are also embedding continuous learning to help teams keep their accessibility knowledge and practice up to date.

Continuous improvement and governance

BMJ Group has an active internal Accessibility Working Group with cross-functional representation. The group oversees progress, shares best practice and helps ensure accessibility remains a core consideration across the organisation.

We conduct biannual reassessments of our platforms to monitor conformance and track progress against our accessibility goals.

How we test our products and services

We use a multi-faceted testing approach to identify and address accessibility issues. This includes:

• Automated accessibility tools: used during development and quality assurance to identify common detectable issues.
• Manual testing: carried out by internal teams, including keyboard-only navigation and screen reader testing.
• Expert audits: independent accessibility experts provide comprehensive evaluations and objective recommendations.
• User feedback: feedback from users, including people who use assistive technologies, helps guide our improvements.

Feedback and support

Your feedback helps us improve. If you experience barriers when accessing our content, or have suggestions for improving the accessibility of our websites or mobile applications, please contact us.

• Email: accessibility@bmj.com
• Call: +44 (0)20 7387 4410
• Write to: BMJ Publishing Group Limited, 5th Floor, 90 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 4EZ, UK

This statement was last updated: September 2026.

Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to the BMJ Group website at bmjgroup.com.

How accessible is this website?

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA standard, so that as many people as possible can use our website.

Users should be able to:

• distinguish text from its background because of sufficient colour contrast
• navigate most of the website using only a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• use most of the website with a screen reader
• skip directly to the main content using keyboard navigation
• see which element is selected when navigating with a keyboard, through visible focus indicators.

Recent accessibility improvements

We are committed to improving the accessibility of the BMJ Group website. Recent improvements include:

• adding skip links to support keyboard navigation
• improving keyboard accessibility across key areas of the website
• adding and enhancing visible focus indicators
• improving page structure through semantic landmarks, including header, navigation, main content and footer regions
• reviewing heading structures to support screen reader navigation
• making link text more meaningful and descriptive where possible
• improving navigation menus and interactive components
• adding accessible names and labels to buttons, links and other interactive elements where required
• reviewing and improving alternative text for images
• improving the accessibility of forms and user interaction elements
• resolving issues relating to duplicate or missing page landmarks
• improving accessibility support for mobile and responsive layouts
• embedding accessibility checks into ongoing website development, testing and content publishing.

Areas we are still improving

We know that some parts of the website may not yet fully conform to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. We are working to address the following areas:

• some third-party websites, tools and embedded content may not meet the same accessibility standards as the main BMJ Group website
• some downloadable documents, including PDFs and flippingbooks, may not be fully accessible to all users
• we continue to review colour contrast, focus indicators and keyboard navigation across the website.

We have also introduced an accessibility training plan to help our staff design and develop content, pages and digital experiences that meet the needs of all users.

Our accessibility audit and roadmap

BMJ Group commissioned an independent accessibility audit by Envious Marketing Ltd, completed in June 2026. The audit assessed the website against WCAG 2.1 Level AA and identified areas for improvement.

Our remediation work is part of BMJ Group’s wider accessibility roadmap. This includes regular audits, issue remediation, accessibility best practice in new development, and continuous improvement overseen by an internal Accessibility Working Group.

Specific accessibility challenges

Third-party integrations

The BMJ Group website includes content and functionality from third-party providers, including embedded videos, external resources, flipping books, OpenStreetMap code and OneTrust.

We do not have direct control over the accessibility standards of these services. However, we are working with providers to improve accessibility where possible, including advocating for WCAG 2.2 Level AA conformance and reviewing alternative suppliers where needed.

Our company-wide commitment

At BMJ Group, we are committed to digital accessibility. We want our resources to be available to as many people as possible, supporting our vision of helping to create a healthier world.

Feedback and support

Your feedback helps us improve accessibility across the BMJ Group website. If you experience any barriers accessing content, or have suggestions for improvement, please contact us:

• Email: accessibility@bmj.com
• Telephone: +44 (0)20 7387 4410
• Post: BMJ Publishing Group Limited, 5th Floor, 90 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 4EZ, UK

This statement was last updated in September 2026.