Accessibility Policy
Arcturus Publishing is committed to ensuring that people with print disabilities can access our content. We are working to improve the accessibility features of our publications and websites to comply with the requirements of the European Accessibility Act.
Arcturus Publishing is a signatory of the UK Publishing Accessibility Action Group’s Charter for Accessible Publishing, which promotes the production of books in accessible formats.
Publishing Standards
As of 2025, all newly released reflowable ebook files fully conform to the WCAG 2.2 Level AA standard.
Since January 2020, all distributed reflowable ebook files have passed validation using the DAISY Consortium’s ACE tool, ensuring a baseline level of accessibility. While these files meet many core requirements, they may not be fully WCAG compliant and may lack features such as alternative text or print page equivalent navigation.
There may be significant accessibility hazards present in editions published prior to 2020, which were not subject to consistent accessibility checks and may use outdated formats.
We are actively reviewing and updating our backlist to ensure older files conform to EPUB Accessibility 1.1 and WCAG 2.2 Level AA standard. If you need an accessible version of an older publication that does not yet meet these standards, please contact us at accessibility@arcturusdigital.com.
Known Limitations
We are aware of various accessibility hazards that may be present in our older ebook files published prior to 2025, such as:
- Lack of alt-text for non-presentational images without sufficient contextual description, or insufficient descriptions
- Inaccessible tables that may be rendered as images
- Missing print-page equivalent navigation
- Poor compatibility with assistive technologies due to outdated EPUB 2 format
We are actively working to remediate these issues according to demand and will fulfil ad-hoc requests for accessible versions.
Whilst measures may be taken to improve the accessibility of our files, some of the content that we publish (e.g. practical art titles) may be inherently inaccessible for certain users due to the fundamental nature of the material.
Website Accessibility
We are aware that our current website may not fully meet accessibility standards. A new, fully accessible website is in development and will replace the existing site in 2025. In the meantime, please contact us if you encounter any issues accessing our content online.
Availability
We distribute our full ebook catalogue through major retailers and library platforms, including OverDrive and Bolinda. Retailers apply DRM at the point of sale.
We also partner with various non-profit organisations to provide accessible content at no cost to those with print disabilities. Our ebooks are available to request for free in the UK through the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People) in the USA via Benetech Bookshare.
Contact
If you have any questions or requests regarding accessibility, please get in touch by emailing accessibility@arcturusdigital.com
Statement published June 2025