Barriers

The editor and the ditorial office supported by Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP) is committed to ensuring the web presence of the UVP-report is as accessible as possible for all users. The legal basis for this accessibility statement is provided by the Law on Accessible Information and Communication Technologies of the State of Berlin (Barrierefreie-IKT-Gesetz Berlin – BIKTGBln as of March 4, 2019), which implements the Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the European Council. Requirements for web content accessibility and accessibility statements are defined by the current Ordinance on Accessible Information Technologies (BITV).

This accessibility statement documents the current state of accessibility of the web presence hosted by BerlinUP on the basis of the content management software Open Journals Systems (OJS) version 3.3 developed by Public Knowledge Project (PKP).

How accessible is the web presence?

Compatibility with the requirements of BITV

This accessibility statement is based on a self-assessment as well as on information provided by the developer PKP.

The above-mentioned web presence is largely accessible but not completely compliant with the technical requirements as defined by BITV 2.0.

The accessi0bility of the above-mentioned web presence is determined by the preparatory work of the software developer PKP. With its Accessibility Interest Group PKP committed itself to continuously improve the accessibility of its products. Accordingly new software versions generally are more accessible than older versions. Starting with software versions 3.x of OJS PKP already commissioned external accessibility audits and will continuously improve its products based on these assessments. An accessibility statement for the OJS 3.3 default theme is provided by PKP. Modifications of the design of the web presence by editorial boards may alter the degree of accessibility.

Content with limited accessibility

The content listed below provides only limited accessibility.

OJS

  • Operability of the website by keyboard is feasible. However, the keyboard focus is not always visible. In some places the order of tabular steps could be optimised.

  • Alternative text is not always available.

  • In certain combinations the color contrast may be slightly lower than the standard defined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Published Content

  • PDF documents currently have limited accessibility.

  • Articles in the UVP-report may contain non-accessible maps and tables. These generally comply with federal and state regulations and guidelines for the preparation of contributions to environmental planning or environmental assessments, e.g. the Planning Drawing Ordinance. The publisher and editor have no influence on this.

We actively work to improve the accessibility of our web presence. To this end, Freie Universität Berlin provides web editors with extensive manuals on building and maintaining accessible websites and offers training and advice for editorial boards on how to build accessible web content and publication formats. In addition we work together with the software developer PKP to improve the accessibility of OJS. A specialised manual on how to design the OJS and OMP frontend in compliance with accessibility standards is also provided by PKP.

Feedback and contact

This statement was written on November 21st 2023.

This statement was last updated on May 28th, 2024.

The content of our web presence should be equally accessible for people with disabilities and people who may have temporary or ongoing difficulty in accessing web content due to individual circumstances. Should you notice any accessibility issues with our web presence, please let us know!