Should alt-text for manuscript figures be the same as the captions? The Oxford University Press link for guidance in the proofing program didn't have a hyperlink.
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In my experience alt-text and captions shoild differ. Alt-text is a brief description “Figure 3 shows a black & white scatterplot of the change in seabird egg size over time.” Caption will focus on the science, stats, photo credit, etc. Maybe this helps https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/describe-content-images
My understanding of alt text (as an editor with several scholarly clients) is that it provide the visually impaired "reader" the same understanding of the figure as someone who can see it clearly. It describes in words exactly what the image portrays. It's much longer than a caption.
This is my first time adding alt-text. Tracked down the publisher guidelines and it seems like a much more condensed version of the caption. More of a summary of the type and layout of the visualization but not including any science or results?
Not describing the trends/results seems like the wrong way to go 🤔 if anything I was thinking of adding more emphasis to the trends displayed by the data and the relationships between groups than one would normally add in a caption.
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