AJNR Editor-in-Chief Mauricio Castillo was featured recently in an interview with the newsletter NeuroNews. Covering the gamut from his days as a medical school student to his stint as President of ASNR, Dr. Castillo reflects on a career in neuroradiology that spans 25 years and counting—the mentors who helped lay a foundation for him as a fellow, the changing face of neuroradiology in the 21st century, and the challenges of editing a scientific publication.

In recounting his experiences, he lists his involvement with AJNR as one of the highlights of his career:

I have always been fascinated by work of editors and the business and ethics of publishing and not only have I learnt a considerable amount about these but I think that by looking at all manuscripts that come in I have become a better clinical neuroradiologist too… If I had to pick my favourite part of the job in over 25 years of doing neuroradiology, it is being AJNR’s editor.

On the topic of publication ethics, he expresses concern about opportunistic “vanity” publishing in scientific journals:

The fact that the Chinese are selling the authorship in scientific articles is simply mind-blowing and upsetting, not to say unethical. The issue of the for-profit scientific publishing predatory journals who take advantage of the fear of professional promotion and reduced library budgets is something simply terrible which will impact our “real” journals.

And on his interests outside of medicine, he professes to be a lover of literature, often reading three books at the same time: one in English, one in Spanish, and one in French!

We encourage you to read the full interview and to search through his Perspectives, an eclectic series of editorials peering at the intersections of neuroscience, culture, and scientific practice.