This editor profile is the nineteenth in a series which will introduce you to a selection of our editors.
This week we have an interview with Gabriella Sanniti di Baja, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Pattern Recognition Letters.

What aspect of being an editor do you find most rewarding?
As an editor, I am in touch with many people, which helps me know in advance what the trends are in my area of research. Being an editor increases your exposure and visibility.

Can you describe how it feels when you come across a groundbreaking paper?
You know when you have a groundbreaking paper in front of you just by reading the abstract!

What would you change about your role as editor or the scientific journal publishing industry if you could?
Criteria used to determine the impact factor of a journal can be quite limiting. If your journal doesn’t have a high impact factor, it’s harder to attract the highest quality papers – it can become a vicious circle which is hard to break out of.

How do you balance your role as editor with your other roles?
I’ve never been worried about working many hours. I have no children so I can work longer if necessary. I work about 14 hours a day.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I’ve always known I wanted to do research-related work. I had to wait a while to get the right job placement but I am very happy I succeeded. 

Why did you choose pattern recognition as your field of study?
My supervisor was active in the field of pattern recognition and so I started to move in that direction. The field was still in its infancy at that time, so it was very exciting.

What’s new in the field of Pattern Recognition? How will this work impact our daily lives?
The biggest area of growth in the field of pattern recognition is surveillance, especially after 9/11. There is a lot of work being done on multi-model identification and recognition systems combining different biometrics like fingerprints, the shape of the face, the iris etc. Nowadays, images are everywhere and people need ways to retrieve and analyze them. Think of the vast amount of images that doctors use for instance or the amount of images on the internet.

What keeps you awake at night?
Problems with a conference I am organizing or a strict deadline can keep me up at night. If I have a bright idea in the middle of the night, I jot it down immediately, so I can go back to sleep.

What is the biggest lesson you've learned in your career?
I have the good fortune of doing exactly what I want to be doing. To me it is more than just a job. I never have the Monday blues. Currently in Italy, as a woman, I could retire at 58, but I want to keep going because I love what I do. 

What is your biggest achievement?
Becoming the first woman and Italian national to be president of the International Association for Pattern Recognition has been a great honor. Being elected president was an acknowledgement of all my other achievements.

What are you currently reading? Would you recommend it?  If so, why?
I am reading a book about Naples at the moment. It is an interview with a philosopher about the many problems Naples faces and whether there are solutions to them.

Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
Azriel Rosenfeld, one of the founders of my field and of the International Association for Pattern Recognition. He was a very kind person who gave me a lot of very valuable advice. He was an excellent listener and always very generous with his time. A huge inspiration!

What would you like your legacy to be?
I hope I have helped to preserve important information for future generations. As president of the International Association for Patter Recognition I have strived to keep track of what the association has done in the past, while at the same time improving things for the future.

What do you like to do for fun?
I like to go to the cinema and to the theater with friends. When I have more than just a few hours, I like to travel. My job also gives me the possibility to travel which is very nice.