An Appreciation

I offer my warmest congratulations to John Corboy, who is soon to end his tenure as editor of Neurology® Clinical Practice. The job of creating and nurturing a new journal is not trivial, and it takes considerable skill and sound insight. John stepped up and brilliantly succeeded. To appreciate this substantial accomplishment, I offer some background—a bit of an origin story.

The editorship of Neurology passed to me in 2009, but my work with the journal extended back to 2001, as an Associate Editor with Berch Griggs, then as Deputy Editor with John Noseworthy. So, along with the Editor-in-Chief position came a historical perspective: that one important opportunity was the need to expand coverage of our field. The content of Neurology had grown more technical, along with our field, and readers were not getting enough content that would be directly applicable or highly relevant to practice. One idea was a new journal, devoted to, and focused on, clinical practice.

The origin, however, was humble. At a meeting of the AAN Board, Steve Ringel (then Editor of Neurology Today) and I were pondering the ever-increasing technical nature of publications in our flagship science journal, and we sketched out—literally, on a napkin—our thoughts about what might constitute the editorial brief of Neurology: Clinical Practice. At the time, our editors and publishers were wary of launching a new journal; our alternative idea was to pilot such a publication with 2 supplements. Who to edit such a project? The job would involve creativity (to develop something out of sketches on a napkin), insight into practice, and intelligence to perceive the relevant issues and related content. John was a colleague of Steve at Colorado and a friend and colleague of mine from time together at the University of Minnesota. We quickly agreed that he was the right person; we asked; he agreed; and in due course, the supplements arrived with a strongly positive response from readers.

The next step was to create an ongoing journal. At this point, the easy part (we hoped) was to ask John to continue—and fortunately he agreed to stay on. (Whew.) But the step from a couple of supplements to an ongoing journal is not easy! It requires the creation and balancing of multiple moving parts: editorial mission and content; business model (a member benefit, arrived at with the invaluable input from the AAN and Jason Kopinski, and our publisher at the time, Kim Jansen, of Wolters Kluwer); and team creation and building. Yes, the model of Neurology was there, but this was a new product with a unique editorial vision. With superb support from AAN journal staff, Patty Baskin, Kathy Pieper, and especially Sharon Quimby who took on the main managing editor role, John developed the new journal and a wonderful team of editors. Under his guidance, they have continuously improved it over the years. It was enormously satisfying to see the progress: the present NCP is refined and yet remains highly pertinent to practicing neurologists, threading the editorial needle to account for the value of cases, reviews, and original research, and thereby meeting the editorial mission for our readers.

And so, John, kudos for a job expertly achieved: creating and evolving the concept of NCP; safeguarding its brand; and adding new material that also added luster; and allowing this editor to feel comfortable, knowing that you were there to guide NCP. And, too, for 30 years of friendship and the fun of working together! Job well done and a bit of rest well deserved!

• © 2021 American Academy of Neurology