Accessibility

Enabling people with disabilities to access Mendeley content quickly and easily

Mendeley features, content and functions are designed to be accessible by all users and devices. We strive to adhere to the U.S. Section 508 Standards of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, as well as meet the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA.

Our Mendeley team consists of developers and user-centered designers who conduct usability testing and accessibility assessments of navigation, flow, labels and consistency. We test Mendeley on a variety of devices and with assistive technology including JAWS screen reader, NVDA, keyboard-only and a variety of browser testing tools.

For a detailed review of how Mendeley supports of each of the WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 criteria, please refer to our Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) document.

Download the latest Mendeley VPAT here

Some of the accessibility features of Mendeley include:

• The user interface is well-structured and semantic HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• Most primary functions in Mendeley are operable using keyboard only, with a logical tab order.
• Nearly all elements have a visible focus indicator that is the browser default. A few elements have been supplied with a custom border, color change, or underline.
• Mendeley uses structured headings and landmarks, allowing users of screen readers to navigate pages more quickly.
• JavaScript functionality is operable using keyboard friendly event handlers.
• Graphical elements such as images and icons are supplemented by HTML text attributes.
• User interface panes and page sections are identified by headings.
• Color coding is minimal and is supplemented by meaningful text.
• Mendeley uses separate CSS files and is also usable with CSS turned off.
• Most form elements are properly labelled via <label> tags or ARIA.
• Mendeley uses primarily standard HTML form elements such as checkboxes and radio buttons, which offer state information to assistive technology such as JAWS.
• Pages have unique and descriptive page titles to help orient users of screen readers.
• Pages and instructions do not rely on sensory characteristics.
• Nearly all text and background color combinations pass minimum color contrast requirements.
• All content and controls are compatible with screen enlargement software in addition to compatibility with built-in browser zoom functionality.
• Mendeley does not have features that interfere with standard API features of the OS including MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility).
• A skip to main content link is available for keyboard and screen reader users.

Our commitment to testing & improving accessibility

Mendeley takes a continuous improvement approach to web accessibility, testing new and existing pages for accessibility with each product release. We train our developers and create tools in house to improve accessibility compliance.

Elsevier & Accessibility

• Read more about Elsevier's Accessibility Policy
• Use the Elsevier Accessibility Checklist Tool help test your organization's sites for compliance.

Support

• To report an accessibility issue with Mendeley or for questions about Mendeley accessibility, please contact Elsevier's accessibility support group at accessibility@elsevier.com.
• If you require electronic files for a student or staff member with a disability, you may use the Access Text Network or the Elsevier Disability Request Form to request a file.
• For general Customer Service support for Mendeley, please use the Mendeley general contact form/site.