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Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for the EQUATOR Network

The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. Our Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.

This accessibility statement applies to The EQUATOR Network website – www.equator-network.org

This website is run by the EQUATOR Network and UK EQUATOR Centre based in the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact the EQUATOR Network and UK EQUATOR Centre Team:

Email: equator@csm.ox.ac.uk

Post:
The EQUATOR Network and UK EQUATOR Centre
Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS)
University of Oxford
Botnar Research Centre, Windmill Road
Oxford, OX3 7LD
UK

We will consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

Post:
The EQUATOR Network and UK EQUATOR Centre
Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS)
University of Oxford
Botnar Research Centre, Windmill Road
Oxford, OX3 7LD
UK

Email: equator@csm.ox.ac.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Other accessibility resources

If you would like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages.

If you are looking for information on building accessibility, please try the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Oxford is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

(1) Perceivable

Alt text

Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. Redundant alternative text is also present for some images and some images near each other have the same alternative text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.

We are working to ensure that all infographics and charts will have a link to a full description of the content.

Images containing text

Some images include text as part of the image. People using a screen reader cannot access this information. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 and 1.4.9.

We are working to ensure that all images containing text will have a suitable text alternative to include the image text. New images will not include text that forms part of the message.

Audio only content

Not all audio only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to website users who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.

All new audio content published after 23 September 2020 will be accompanied by transcripts. We will work to provide transcripts for audio content deemed essential that was published before September 2020.

Video only content

Not all video only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to users who cannot see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.

All new video only content published after 23 September 2020 will be accompanied by transcripts. We will work to provide transcripts for video content deemed essential that was published before September 2020.

Video with audio content

Not all videos have captions that are synchronised to the audio content of the video, making them inaccessible to people who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2.

All new video with audio content published after 23 September 2020 will have captions. We will work to provide captions for video and audio content deemed essential that was published before September 2020.

Not all videos have audio descriptions of important visual information that does not have audio, making this inaccessible to people who cannot see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5.

All new videos published after 23 September 2020 will have audio descriptions. We will work to provide audio descriptions for video content deemed essential that was published before September 2020.

(3) Understandable

Inconsistent link behaviour

Some links to external sites open in a new browser window and some open in the same browser window making the site behaviour unpredictable, which can result in the site being less accessible for people with some cognitive disabilities and people who use screen readers. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2.

All links to external websites are being reviewed and will be changed to open in the same browser window where appropriate.

When it is appropriate for a link to open in a new browser window we will indicate this with the following icon to alert users to this: New browser window opening icon

Change on request

The website automatically submits forms when browsing for reporting guidelines using the drop down menus. This can result in confusion and disorientation while navigating the website, particularly for people who are blind or have low vision and people with intellectual disabilities or cognitive limitations. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.5.

This functionality has been retained as it is important for facilitating searching across multiple dimensions in the reporting guideline database search.

JavaScript jump menu

JavaScript jump menus are present in the website which can make navigating pages very difficult. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2.

It is not possible to resolve this as certain parts of the website such as the blog, news archive and reporting guideline search function rely on JavaScript jump menu functionality.

CMS code

The Content Management System (WordPress) is not fully compatible with WCAG 2.1, principally in terms of poor colour contrast in the Dashboard. WordPress has committed to future upgrades being AA compatible with WCAG 2.1. See https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/add_editor_style/

We are continuing to work with our supplier to address this.

(4) Robust

Compatible

In general, we cannot be certain that the website is fully compatible with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.

We will work with our supplier to ensure that these criteria are met by regular maintenance updates and testing of the CMS software and website.

Documents (Word & PDF)

Many of the documents (Word and PDF) on this site do not meet accessibility standards, which could result in them not being fully accessible to users of screen readers.

Documents that have been published by the EQUATOR Network and are essential to the service we provide will be either converted to HTML pages or replaced with accessible versions. Any new documents published by the EQUATOR Network will meet accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Third-party content

Our site includes third party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, link to another site or to supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party content or for other websites that we link to.

This includes:

Documents (Word & PDF)

Word and PDF documents which were published by the EQUATOR Network before September 2018 and that are not essential to the service we provide will not be replaced. If you experience any difficulties accessing these documents, please email equator@csm.ox.ac.uk. Any new documents published by the EQUATOR Network will meet accessibility standards.

Pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020

This website includes numerous links to pre-recorded video with audio files that were published by the EQUATOR Network before September 2020. We will not provide transcripts for these video files unless they are deemed essential. All new video files published by the EQUATOR Network will meet accessibility standards. If you experience any difficulties accessing pre-September 2020 video files, please email equator@csm.ox.ac.uk.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this we will:

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 21 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 17 November 2021.

This website was last tested in September 2021. The test was carried out by Minervation and the EQUATOR Network UK EQUATOR Centre. We are currently liaising with our supplier to ensure that all accessibility issues identified are addressed.

The following pages and functionality were checked to ensure that we covered the full range of content across the site:

The pages were checked manually using a combination of the following methods:

 

 

This page was last updated on 17 November 2021.

 

Reporting guidelines for main study types