Accessibility statement

Sidestone Press is committed to improving the accessibility of our PDF ebooks. We are implementing structured accessibility measures in our production workflow to ensure that newly published titles meet widely recognised accessibility standards.

New publications

For new PDF ebooks, we aim to:

• Produce fully tagged PDFs with a clear and logical document structure
• Apply structured heading hierarchies for navigability
• Provide alternative text for meaningful images
• Mark decorative elements as artifacts so they are ignored by assistive technologies
• Define table headers and structured table content
• Include document language metadata and accessibility settings

We validate newly produced PDFs using accessibility checking tools, including the PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) available at https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/en, as well as manual review. Our workflow is aligned with recognised guidelines such as WCAG and, where technically feasible, with PDF/UA.

Backlist titles

Many backlist titles were produced using structured paragraph styles and automated tagging, and therefore already contain a logical reading order that supports use with assistive technologies.
However:

• Images in older titles may not contain alternative text, although descriptive captions are provided.
• Some legacy PDFs may not meet all current technical validation criteria under strict PDF/UA testing.

Known limitations

Some scholarly works – particularly those with complex visual layouts, detailed tables, or graphic design elements – may not fully satisfy every strict automated validation criterion, even where content remains readable with assistive technologies.

We continuously review and refine our workflow as publishing tools evolve.

Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT)

Sidestone Press provides an Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT) describing the accessibility of our PDF publications in relation to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Download VPAT

This report applies to publications produced under our current accessibility workflow (from 26 February 2026 onwards).

Feedback and assistance

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of our PDF ebooks. If you encounter an accessibility barrier or have suggestions how we can improve accessibility, please contact us.