Accommodating color vision deficiencies in biomedical publications.

Abstract

Color vision deficiencies, especially red-green types such as deuteranomaly and protanopia, affect many individuals, particularly men, and pose challenges in fields that rely on color-coded visualizations. In biomedical journals, figures such as heatmaps and fluorescence images often use red-green color contrasts that are inaccessible to readers with color vision deficiencies, leading to misinterpretation and reduced clarity. Studies show that a large proportion of scientific figures remain problematic, underscoring the need for inclusive design. This review outlines strategies to improve figure accessibility, including avoiding red-green combinations, adopting perceptually uniform palettes, ensuring luminance contrast, and supplementing colors with patterns or annotations. Providing alternative text and testing figures with color-blindness simulators further enhances usability. Incorporating these practices promotes equitable access to scientific knowledge and strengthens the clarity and impact of published research in biomedical journals and textbooks.