Editorial Spotlight: Manuel Herrador-Muñoz

This interview and blog post was prepared by PLOS One Senior Editor Jianhong Zhou.

Bridging technology and sustainability across the EU, ASEAN, and Japan, Dr. Manuel Herrador Muñoz is a leading expert in AI, the Circular Economy, and Smart Cities. As a Senior Consultant, his work has secured over €200M in international funding programmes (e.g., Horizon Europe, CEF, EIC) for cutting-edge projects focusing on integrating digital transformation, AI and ESG principles. Alongside holding two patents and contributing 130 peer reviews (see ORCID), his multidisciplinary research is widely published in top-tier journals, including “Future Generation Computer Systems” and “Resources, Conservation and Recycling”.

What leads you to the current research field, and what’s the most exciting area right now?

My journey into this multidisciplinary field began with a foundation in Computer Science Engineering, an EMBA and a PhD in ICT. Over the years, I transitioned from Smart City projects across Spain, Argentina, and the Netherlands into international post-doctoral field research, extensively studying the Circular Economy across South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. Right now, the most exciting area is the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and sustainable urban development across the ASEAN region and Japan. This includes developing a universal Circular Cities Declaration based on the EU model and studying circularity in Japan e.g., in vacant houses (Akiyas) and across the textiles sector. Parallel to this, I investigate AI safety and AI cybersecurity, specifically uncovering novel attack vectors through persistent memory in LLMs, and introducing the ‘PacifAIst Benchmark’ to evaluate whether AI systems prioritize human survival over their own objectives.

As an Academic Editor for PLOS One, could you describe your experiences when handling manuscripts? What is your approach for evaluating reviewer comments and providing feedback to authors, especially when there are split reviews?

Serving on the Editorial Board of PLOS One since 2024 has been incredibly rewarding. Given my broad expertise across AI, Circular Economy, and Green Tech, I handle highly interdisciplinary manuscripts. When facing split reviews, my approach is to objectively evaluate the methodological rigor. I focus on providing constructive feedback, ensuring that authors receive a clear synthesis of the critical points to elevate their research.

Notably, I am currently facing a surge in the unethical use of AI to generate derivative works or marginally alter previously published research. To maintain the integrity of PLOS One, a crucial part of my initial evaluation involves rigorously screening for plagiarism and ‘salami-slicing’ publication strategies, which typically result in a desk rejection.

What aspects of Open Science are most important in your field, and where do you see the next steps for openness in this research area?

In the realms of AI and sustainability, transparency and reproducibility are paramount. The most important aspect of Open Science right now is the accessible sharing of code, data, and models. For instance, in my recent research introducing the “PacifAIst Benchmark” for AI safety, I ensured the work was linked to a public GitHub repository. Consequently, imposing unwarranted restrictions on access to underlying code, interview transcripts, or raw datasets inherently contradicts these principles and typically precludes a manuscript from advancing through the review process.

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