The World University Rankings – Return to table reflects ongoing string of advances for open science movement – “After watching the University of California head toward a series of open access agreements with other big publishers, industry titan Elsevier has agreed to resume exploratory discussions with the unbending state system. The 10-campus California system – now more than six months without access to Elsevier’s library of 2,500 journals – announced that the two sides will hold “a meeting to explore reopening negotiations” early this year. Given the open access deals the California system has signed elsewhere, the system’s library leaders said in a statement, “we are hopeful that this suggests that the publisher is ready to discuss deals that align with UC’s goals”. The California-Elsevier showdown has been watched nationally and globally, a reflection of the size and importance of the two players and the multibillion-dollar stakes surrounding the challenge across academia of making published research findings open to all. Last January California declined to sign a new contract with Elsevier, after the company refused to meet its demands that more content from California authors be made available in free-to-read formats and that overall costs be reduced…”