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Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to Research Software Directory at
Imperial College London (https://www.imperial.software/). It promotes
the impact, re-use and citation of research software. This statement
does not cover external websites or web pages accessed via links on this
platform. These third-party resources are outside our control, and we
cannot guarantee their accessibility.

Although, this platform is run by Imperial Central ICT Research Software
Engineering Team, within the Research Computing Service; it has several
contributors.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this platform. For
example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen.
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition
    software.
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the
    most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We have also made the 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 platform is

We know some parts of this platform may not be fully accessible:

  • There are various low contrast elements (text and non-text)
  • Non-text elements are missing accessible alternative text
  • There are Reflow and Text spacing issues
  • There are parts that do not respond to speech to text software
  • There are some anomalies for screen reader users

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not
meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Imperial Research
Software Directory maintainers at research-software-directory@imperial.ac.uk
or open describe the problem in the tool issue tracker at
https://github.com/ImperialCollegeLondon/RSD-as-a-service/issues .

If you need information on this platform in a different format like
accessible PDF, large print, easy read or audio recording, please
contact research-software-directory@imperial.ac.uk . We'll consider
your request and get back to you in 7 working days.

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).

Technical information about this platform's accessibility

The Imperial Central ICT Research Software Engineering Team, within the
Research Computing Service, is committed to making its services
accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and
Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations
2018
At the date of this statement, this platform is partially compliant with
the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA. Certain
accessibility limitations relate to functionality and components that
are under the control of the third-party contributors, therefore these
parts are not within our direct control. Any issues on those sections
will be raised with the contributors along with the relevant standards
to meet, and we will be monitoring the implementation of appropriate
corrective measures.

Compliance status

This platform is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due
to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  1. Throughout most of the tiles that feature individual software, there
    are parts that do not meet the minimum contrast. This may cause
    difficulty for users with sight loss or colour blindness. This fails
    WCAG 2.2 AA success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast minimum). We will be
    resolving as many of these low contrast issues as we can; for the
    parts that are within contributing user's remit will be relayed to
    them. Some instances where colour contrast do not meet the
    requirements of WCAG success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast minimum)
    relate to original third-party logos. As these are exempt from the
    contrast requirements of this criterion these are not considered as
    accessibility non-compliances. Where applicable these images are
    identified as logos through appropriate alternative text to ensure
    their purpose and content are clearly conveyed to users of assistive
    technologies.

  2. Various non-text elements such as visual boundary of the search
    field, profile dropdown arrow, "add information" button, some toggle
    controls and input field boundaries have insufficient contrast
    levels. This may cause difficulty for users with sight loss and/or
    colour blindness. This fails WCAG 2.2 AA criterion 1.4.11 (non-text
    contrast). We will be resolving as many of these low contrast issues
    as we can; for the parts that are within contributing user's remit
    will be relayed to them. We aim for these non-compliances to be
    resolved by the end of 2026.

  3. In the "New Software" page and in some specific software pages,
    horizontal scrolling is required to view all page content when
    viewing the pages at 1280px width and 400% zoom. This may cause
    confusion and make it difficult for users to track the end of a line
    and the beginning of the next. This fails WCAG 2.2 AA criteria
    1.4.10 (Reflow). We are aiming to resolve this Reflow issue by the
    end of 2026.

  4. On some software pages, images of text are present within the
    'Description' section. This might lead to screen reader users being
    unable to access important information presented in this way. This
    fails WCAG 2.2 AA criterion 1.4.5 (Images of text). This content is
    contributed by users, therefore are out of our control, but. this
    will be relayed to them, so it can be sorted.

  5. Under the Text Spacing Chrome browser extension, across all tested
    pages (except for the 'Sign in' page), 'Ctrl-K within the search
    input overlaps with placeholder text. Specific to the 'New Software'
    page, 'The URL of this software will be' copy overlaps the URL
    below making it difficult to read for users with dyslexia or sight
    loss. This fails 1.4.12 (Text spacing). We are aiming to resolve
    this issue by the end of 2026.

  6. Across all: in page buttons, dropdowns, toggles, and menu items, a
    focus indicator is present however, in some cases it does not meet
    minimum contrast requirements. Grey, green, and yellow focus
    indicators do not provide sufficient contrast. This may cause
    difficulty for users with sight loss and/or sight loss. This fails
    WCAG 2.2 AA criteria 2.4.7 (Focus Visible) We are aiming to resolve
    this issue by the end of 2026.

  7. Status messages, such as form submission confirmations, are not
    announced by screen readers. Across the 'Software' and 'Mentions'
    webpages users are not informed of changes when navigating with a
    screen reader. Specifically, on the 'Software' page, submitting a
    search or applying filters does not trigger any announcement to
    inform the user that results have loaded or how many results are
    available. This will cause screen reader users to miss out on such
    critical information and steps on their journey. This fails WCAG 2.2
    AA criteria 4.1.3 (Status messages). We are aiming to resolve this
    issue by the end of 2026.

  8. Difficulties for speech recognition software uses: On 'New
    Software', across 'Contributions' and 'Mentions', the 'Add
    contributor' and 'Add reference paper' dropdowns cannot be selected
    using voice commands. On the 'Software' and 'My Software' webpages,
    the 'Order by' dropdown and the '12' dropdown cannot be selected.
    Lastly, on the software pages, the 'Cite this software' dropdown
    cannot be selected. This fails WCAG 2.2 AA criteria 4.1.2 (Name,
    Role, Value). We will be resolving as many of these "speech to text"
    issues as we can; for the parts that are within GitHub's or
    contributing user's remit will be relayed to them. We aim to resolve
    them by the end of 2026.

  9. Image links within the 'Description' section of some software pages
    have accessible names that do not match the visually displayed
    names. When user interface components have accessible names that do
    not match the visible text, users of speech recognition software may
    struggle to interact with them, as their spoken commands will not
    correspond with the expected labels. This fails 2.5.3 (Label in
    Name). This content is contributed by that specific user, therefore
    are out of our control. This will be relayed to them.

  10. There are several instances of identical link names on various
    pages. E.g. The 'Paper' links in the 'Used the following
    repositories' table on the CoDiet page use identical link text and
    are not distinguishable from one another. This may be confusing for
    screen reader users as the links are not distinguishable. This fails
    WCAG 2.2 AA criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose-in context). We will be
    resolving as many of these identical Link text issues as we can on
    the parts that are under our control; for the parts that are within
    contributing user's remit will be conveyed to relevant contributors,
    with recommended solution (changing links to distinguishable texts).

  11. There are instances of non-decorative imagery without an appropriate
    equivalent descriptive alternative text. For example, on the Solcore
    page, the 'launch binder', 'DOI', 'License', and 'Unit test and
    examples' buttons also lack appropriate alternative text. On the
    CoDiet page, the 'data DOI' and 'preprint DOI' buttons do not have
    appropriate alternative text, as their alternative text does not
    clearly describe the destination of the link, and the 'GitHub
    Repository' image does not have any alternative text. Without this,
    key actions and links may be unclear or inaccessible to screen
    reader users. This fails WCAG 2.2 AA criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text
    content). This content is contributed by that specific user,
    therefore are out of our control. This will be relayed to them.

  12. On 'My Software' and 'New Software' webpages, the left-side
    navigation, selected option is not announced by the screen reader,
    also not announced is the state (active or not). Furthermore, on the
    'My Software' webpage, the cards announce numerical values for views
    and comments without context when focused. For example, values such
    as '19' and '84' are announced without indicating what they
    represent. Lastly, on the 'Links and Metadata' webpage, the keyword
    field is not announced, nor its associated label is announced. This
    does not provide meaningful information to users of screen readers.
    This fails WCAG 2.2 AA criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value). We are
    aiming to resolve these issues and make sure all fields, and
    critical content is announced by screen readers by the end of 2026.

Disproportionate Burden

N / A

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations.

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other
documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to
providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility
standards.

Live video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video
is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We are committed to ensuring that all future content and functionality
under our direct control conforms, wherever reasonably practicable, to
the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2
Level AA. We will conduct regular reviews of this accessibility
statement and the platform's accessibility performance. Where
significant changes are made to the user interface, functionality, or
underlying platform, we will commission comprehensive accessibility
audits to assess ongoing compliance and identify any areas requiring
improvement.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 14/07/2026. It was last reviewed on
24/07/2026.

Testing Methodology

This platform was last tested on 08/07/2026 against the WCAG 2.2 AA
standard, by Zoonou Ltd.

Following template URLS were tested:

  • Landing page
  • Sign In
  • Software
  • Software example
  • Solcore
  • Settings - Profile
  • Settings - About me
  • Settings - User agreements
  • Settings - Terms of Service
  • My Software
  • New Software
  • New Software - Description
  • New Software - Links & Metadata
  • New Software - Contributions
  • New Software - Mentions
  • New Software - Package managers
  • New Software - Software Heritage
  • New Software -- Maintainers
  • Test Environments:

Chrome 149 - JAWS (desktop screen reader)
Edge 149 - NVDA (desktop screen reader)
Windows Magnifier (screen magnifier)
Chrome 149 - Dragon Naturally Speaking (speech recognition)