Published on behalf of the STM Alt-Text Accessibility Task & Finish Group
The STM Alt Text Task & Finish Group (TFG) has released a draft image-type taxonomy for scholarly images — and we’re inviting your feedback. Please download the draft taxonomy and feed back to any of the members of the group named on the site and at the end of the draft taxonomy itself. Download draft taxonomy
The background:
Scholarly publishers want all users to be able to read their content. From April 2026, Title II regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of the US Department of Justice will require US institutions to ensure that all digital content, across websites and mobile apps, is accessible to people with disabilities. New content thereafter will be expected to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, one aspect of which is the requirement for text alternatives that describe any images present within the content (so-called alt-text), bringing it into line with the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
To support effective processes that make scholarly content better accessible, this STM Task & Finish Group is developing a controlled and shared classification model for the creation of short description alt-text for images.