Taylor & Francis places #1 for accessibility in ASPIRE’s list of publishers

Taylor & Francis is pleased to announce that it has been verified by ASPIRE with an ASPIREscore of 100%, and so are now number 1 on ASPIRE’s list of Publishers. ASPIRE ranks publishers by accessibility statement, awarding each one a score based on criteria such as available content formats and discoverability of key information.

The gold rating and score of 100% mark the culmination of a very busy year of effort across the business devoted to improving the accessibility of digital products and platforms. Taylor & Francis recognizes that a clear accessibility commitment improves the  experience for all users of its digital products, and that disabilities can take many forms including visual, motor, auditory and cognitive. Throughout 2021, the Taylor & Francis Accessibility Working Group worked tirelessly to improve offerings and update the company’s Accessibility Statement, based on ASPIRE’s best practice guidelines.

Following its launch in January 2020, Taylor & Francis continued to build on the initial Accessibility Statement, reaffirming an ongoing commitment to accessibility and providing a  clear overview of accessibility work within the business. The statement acts as a gateway to Taylor & Francis’ network of product and platform statements, while providing further information on the overall approach the company takes to writing alternative text for images and technical information about content. Taylor & Francis is enormously grateful to ASPIRE for providing the guidance which has helped the business move another step closer to achieving its accessibility goals.

ASPIRE’s Huw Alexander says “We are thrilled to have helped Taylor & Francis achieve a gold-rated, 100% ASPIREscore – a great milestone since the inception of the ASPIRE project in 2018. The previous ASPIREreview of their accessibility statement gave them a rating of 71%, and this improvement in 2021 is a reflection of their ongoing commitment to make their content accessible for all. A fantastic, thoroughly deserved, achievement.”

Taylor & Francis’ partnerships with organizations such as BookShare, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and  AccessText Network have also been instrumental to progress in this area. “We are immensely proud to receive the gold rating,” says Brianna Walker, Head of Content Management. “There is always more work to be done, but this recognition, along with our recent receipt of the 2021 Accessible Books Consortium International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing, gives us great motivation to keep going.”

Taylor & Francis’ work with ASPIRE, has been documented in this accessibility story.