All researchers, regardless of ability, need access to scholarly information. ProQuest is committed to providing all our users with a fully accessible experience for research, teaching and learning. 

At ProQuest, we make every effort to ensure that our platforms – including Dialog – can be used by everyone. Dialog is continually designed and developed to meet Level AA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) and Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act for features and functions.

Accessibility features and gaps

Users of Dialog should be able to:

• Navigate the website using consistent navigation. 
• Cancel functions that can be operated using a single pointer.
• Use the product without color as color is never the only means of delivering important information.
• Increase line height or spacing of text without loss of content or functionality in most cases.

There may be some parts of this website that are not fully accessible:

• Some of parts of our website are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard.
• The text and design will not reflow in when you change the size of the browser window.
• There are issues with color contrast in some cases.
• Labels are missing for controls and forms in some cases.
• Sometimes elements have improper or missing names, roles or values.
• Some links are missing descriptive link text.
• Users cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader.
• Some headings are missing.
• In some cases content that appears on hover cannot be dismissed.
• A change of context occurs when the user changes a user interface component without first being advised in some areas of the product.

If you have a disability and need to make your computer, tablet or other device easier to use, AbilityNet is a recommended resource. We also recommend browsing free add-ons offered for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

Technical Information about this site’s accessibility

Dialog is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with:

• Level A and Level AA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1)
• Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act for features and functions.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance level and report 

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines v2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below. 

Access the full Accessibility Compliance Report (VPAT 2.4 and WCAG) for Dialog.

Accessibility of this platform

Keyboard Access 

Most of the website can be navigated with a keyboard alone, but there are several areas that are currently inaccessible or hard to access.  Also, in some areas a meaningful sequence is lost while tabbing through the product.  These issues are as follows:

• “X” close icon on modals is not keyboard accessible, the user can close the modals but only while using cancel button or esc key.
• Many widgets in the My Research user interface are not keyboard accessible.
• Some widgets within the Advanced Search user interface are not keyboard accessible.
• Users cannot copy the citation block using just the keyboard in the Search Results user interface.
• In some cases, the user cannot close modals using only the keyboard.
• Users cannot close the information that appears from the “i” info icon in the Command Line Search and the Advanced Search user interfaces.
• In My Research, the Actions drop down menu will not collapse using only a keyboard.
• Focus order on the following pages may be confusing- My Research, All search strategy editors in AMUI and all modals
• Sidebar content comes after tabs and before search options.
• Focus is lost or difficult to follow on the Doc View for patent documents.

Color Contrast and Reflow

While most text throughout Dialog meets minimum color contrast standards, there are cases where text does not have enough contrast with the background color. These issues are as follows:

• The orange text on any page does not meet contrast except for cases of large text.
• Inactive “Include medical synonyms” link on search box.
• Color contrast on highlighted terms in the Strategy Editor in AMUI do not meet contrast requirements for AA standards.
• Text on headers in Alerts/Saved Searches.
• Grey, orange and yellow icons do not have enough contrast throughout the product.

If color contrast is a concern for you, we recommend utilizing one of the free browser plugins that can increase text/background color contrast, such as the High Contrast extension for Google Chrome. 

Users can zoom the browser to 400% and still read the text without having to scroll in two directions in some areas of Dialog but there are issues with the reflow of the page in the following areas:

• Navigation on all pages does not reflow.
• Footer on all pages does not reflow.
• Modals do not reflow or adjust to page size.
• Basic Search, Command Line Search, Advanced Search and My Research do not reflow well.
• When the Advanced Search page is linearized, checkboxes do not maintain a meaningful sequence, page also does not scroll when linearized.

Labels and Names, Rolls or Values and Links

Throughout Dialog, form elements and buttons are given accessible labels, so you can use assistive technologies to determine the purpose of various controls. The majority of elements have labels, but there are areas where of labels are missing.   These areas are as follows:

• Several labels missing or unclear in RSS Feed form elements
• Some checkboxes and radio buttons are not associated with labels or have nondescriptive labels on the Search Results page and when creating an alert.
• Several fields are not labeled correctly in the Create Alert modal.
• There is no sufficient label for field sets in date range areas of the Command Line Search page
• Data forms control in Command Line Search and Document List do not have corresponding label.
• “Select all” option in Documents is missing a label to a form element.
• Several elements in My Research
• Checkboxes are missing labels throughout product
• Some elements in Advanced Search lookup modals
• Some elements in the Alert Manager user interface
• Search input box in AMUI list filter
• Background and spacer images are labeled as meaningful.

Screen readers also utilize the names and rolls given to user interface elements to describe them to users.  They also use descriptive text assigned to links to tell the user where the link will take them.  Dialog conforms to most HTML web standards, exceptions to this are as follows:

• Search button on the Basic Search page
• Image view/List view on the Basic Search page
• Several elements on the Command Line Search page
• Widget setting and display results on the My Research page
• Buttons and slider in the Visualizations section of the Search Results page
• Some elements of the Alerts Manager page
• Several links in My Research
• Several inks in the Search Results page
• Refresh and Preview links in search strategy editors in AMUI
• Icon/Images used as links throughout the product, like 'i', '+', and 'x' are empty links with no text making them ambiguous or unclear to screen readers.

Skipping to the Main Content and Navigation Landmarks and Headings

On all pages within Dialog, there is a skip link that can be found at the beginning of the page labeled but users cannot skip to the main content using that link.  There are also some issues with navigation landmarks and bypass blocks.  They are as follows:

• Main navigation landmarks are missing in the header on all pages.
• Several pages have a right panel with filters, or tertiary navigation (in My Research) and a user must navigate through it to get to results or lists of documents/content.
• In shared content, there is no bypass block or way to jump from topic list to list of content in a topic without tabbing.
• There is a redundant link in the footer, screen readers can’t bypass that repetition.
• My Research items are excluded from the sitemap.

Most sections of the site are structured with page titles that can be used to navigate and understand the information on the page, but headings are missing in following areas:

• Basic Search
• My Research
• Advanced Search
• Search Results
• Admin My Research Accounts

Dismissible Content and Change of Context and Error Messages

There are a number of controls within Dialog that show and hide on information hover. In some cases this content is not dismissible.  Those cases are as follows: 

• Information icon about 'AND' and 'OR' functionality is not accessible except on hover the Recent Searches page.
• Tooltips cannot be dismissed.
• Action menu is only partially accessible on Recent Searches page.

In most cases no changes in context occur upon the change the settings of a user-interface component in Dialog except for the following:

• In My Research Documents, selecting a new folder from the dropdown automatically changes the page below.
• While using the qualifiers in Thesaurus on the Advanced Search page, after selecting a checkbox in the qualifiers and then hitting enter, the entire page closes.
• Selecting the 'Custom' dropdown from the download results gives some instructional text that a non-sighted user would not see.

There are a number of controls within Dialog that show and hide information. While this helps sighted users avoid information overload, the status of these controls is not always communicated to assistive technologies like screen readers.  Areas where status is not announced include:  

• When importing a list of users in an Admin view, if no file is selected there is no way for a user using a screen reader to know there was an error and they need to take some action.
• When errors are returned on search the error is not announced.

Accessibility Testing

The accessibility of Dialog is a continual effort at ProQuest. Accessibility standards are built into our design, and style guides and included as part of requirements in our software development and quality assurance pipeline.

Dialog code is checked for accessibility using a range of automated and manual checks including but not limited to: 

• Color Contrast Analyzer provided by WebAIM
• Deque aXe accessibility testing tool
• High Contrast Chrome extension
• Keyboard-access manual testing and assessment
• WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation tool) provided by WebAIM
• JAWS with Windows
• VoiceOver with Mac

Dialog is tested on the latest versions of Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Edge, and on devices including Mac and Windows computers, and Android and iOS devices.

What We’re Doing to Improve Accessibility

Making content accessible is an ongoing effort at ProQuest. We’re committed to working with the community to ensure we continue to meet our customers’ needs. A list of our ongoing efforts include:

• The ProQuest Accessibility Council: a team of stakeholders working to increase accessibility resources and capabilities 
• Pursuing partnerships with colleges, universities and other institutions to assist us in reviewing and updating our accessibility standards 
• Supporting certifications for our employees
• Consulting with accessibility experts such as Deque 

Support and feedback

ProQuest support services are available to accommodate the communication needs of users with disabilities. If you have difficulty accessing specific OASIS content with adaptive technology, contact us using the links provided below.  

Online: Dialog Customer Support Centre

Phone:
United States & Canada (toll free):
+1 800 334 2564

Outside North America:
+00 800 33 34 2564 or  +1 734-707-2513

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This accessibility statement was prepared on October 22, 2020. It was last reviewed on October 23, 2020.
The website was last tested on October 20, 2020. The test was carried out internally at ProQuest.