In this Editorial, as the new Editor-in-Chief of Cerebral Cortex, I make a tribute to its well-known founders, late Patricia S. Goldman-Rakić and Paško Rakić. A couple with great synergies, they created a very special journal with unique spirit, one of the premier venues to publish the best neuroscience research. For the journal's future, my intentions are threefold: (i) to maintain and advance the high publication standards and traditions that contribute to the exceptional reputation of Cerebral Cortex in the scientific community, (ii) to follow the principles established by its founders, and (iii) to reflect novel trends in scientific publishing that have been crucially altered in recent years.