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Digital Commons 2025+ Accessibility RoadmapDigital Commons 2025+ Accessibility Roadmap
Introduction
Digital Commons is committed to building a more inclusive platform. All new features are built with accessibility in mind from the start of development planning through the design and testing phases. In addition, we have spent the past several years systematically evaluating accessibility gaps and addressing them based on technical feasibility, community input, and end-user impact.
We create regular assessment reports to help our teams monitor accessibility. From those reports, we build a prioritized list of issues that takes into account the practical needs of our customers and the impact of addressing each issue.
Please see our VPAT and the Accessibility Updates page for details on where Digital Commons meets accessibility criteria.
Our current and future areas of focus are highlighted below.
Current Work
Our accessibility roadmap focuses on additional WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA criteria level remediations for DC public-facing and admin-facing pages. These are prioritized to align with ADA Title II requirements that go into effect in 2026.
The list below shows the accessibility remediations on the roadmap for criteria that we currently “Partially Support” or “Do Not Support.”
Criterion |
Description |
Status |
|---|---|---|
1.1.1 / Level A |
Non-Text Content (Alt Text) |
In Progress |
1.3.1 / Level A |
Information and Relationships |
Planned |
1.4.1 / Level A |
Use of Color |
Planned |
1.4.3 / Level AA |
Color Contrast (Text / Background) |
Planned |
1.4.4 / Level AA |
Resize Test |
Planned |
1.4.10 / Level AA |
Reflow (Zoom Visibility) |
Planned |
1.4.11 / Level AA |
Non-Text Contrast |
In Progress |
2.1.1 / Level A |
Keyboard |
Planned |
2.2.1 / Level A |
Timing Adjustable |
In Progress |
2.4.1 / Level A |
Bypass Blocks (Skip) |
Planned |
2.4.3 / Level A |
Focus Order (Logical Tab Order, Focus Mgmt) |
Planned |
2.4.4 / Level A |
Link Purpose (In Context) |
In Progress |
2.4.7 / Level AA |
Focus Visible (Keyboard) |
Planned |
3.1.1 / Level A |
Language of Page |
In Progress |
3.1.2 / Level AA |
Language of Parts |
Planned |
3.3.1 / Level A |
Error Identification |
In Progress |
3.3.2 / Level A |
Labels and Instruction |
Planned |
4.1.2 / Level A |
Name, Role, Value (UI Components) |
Planned |
The pages and areas reflecting our prioritized accessibility work are listed in the Digital Commons VPAT spanning visitor, author, and administrator spaces within the Digital Commons experience, including:
- Front end, such as the Login page, Research Alerts, and Follow Management
- Author tools, such as the Dashboard, Submission pages, and Search
- Admin tools, such as the Manage Submissions interface, Configuration pages, the Content Reporting Tool, the Harvesting Tool, and the Batch Upload File Manager
For the full list of pages, see the VPAT.
Looking Ahead
Accessibility is an ongoing priority at Digital Commons. We draw on robust collaboration with the DC community and internal experts to identify key areas of improvement as we move forward. We actively assess the resulting roadmap to ensure that it continues to target full compliance, and we will update this page regularly.
Our ongoing accessibility efforts include:
- Consulting with and performing audits through Elsevier's accessibility experts
- Supporting accessibility training and certification for Digital Commons employees
- Embedding accessibility in our development process
- Engaging with the DC community and listening to customer feedback
Beyond Digital Commons, learn more about how Elsevier endeavors to ensure our products are fully accessible to all, regardless of their abilities.