Enhanced good practice for core facilities

Light microscopy facilities have evolved from shared systems to major institutional resources, offering access and support for advanced technologies. However, managing core facilities requires a wide range of expertise outwith the main technology domain of the facility, from costing to training to facility design. The Journal of Microscopy's first Special Issue on Light Microscopy Core Facility Management (Volume 294, Issue 3) sought to support core facility managers by formalising and sharing experiences across this wide range of adjacent yet essential domains. Published in Spring of 2024, just ahead of ELMI in Liverpool, this special issue has gone on to become the most viewed issue of the Journal of Microscopy. We are pleased to note that the 15 articles of this issue have been viewed ∼44,000 times and cited over 80 times, which is noteworthy for articles pertaining to light microscopy facility management rather than light microscopy per se. In response to the success of the first special issue we now present a follow-up, which continues the JMI's mission of supporting core facility staff while expanding on ‘essential adjacent’ topics. This second issue reflects the evolving role of core facilities as professional, strategic, and sustainable research environments. We describe these new facilities as FAIRcillities: findable and accessible to a broad range of users, increasingly interoperable across institutions, disciplines, and technologies, and rigorous in their commitment to quality and the practicing the highest standards of imaging science. To broaden our geographical reach, improve gender balance, and engage the next generation of imaging facilities, we are delighted to welcome Michelle Itano (UNC Chapel Hill, USA) to the editorial board. Her vision strengthens the international perspective of this issue and reinforces our commitment to an inclusive and forward-looking facility management community. The scope of this special issue encompasses a diverse and timely set of topics, including electron microscopy facility management, 3D Printing and Prototyping, Marketing, Data Science, Career Development, Conflict Management, Research Rigor, and a broad collection of community surveys. Together, these topics reflect the growing maturity of the core facility field. We hope this issue will serve as a valuable resource for both new and established core facilities, potentially laying the groundwork for Enhanced Good Facility Practice (EGFP). In order to reach our target community, this special issue has again been published in time for ELMI (2026) and is available online at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652818. In recognition of the importance of core facility management for the microscopy community, the Journal of Microscopy is now launching a virtual collection of articles on microscopy facility management (LM and EM) to which authors may submit manuscripts at any time. These articles will be published individually and then grouped together in a special collection on the Journal of Microscopy website, which will include the articles from the two topic-specific special issues. (For more details, see the JMI Author Guidelines.) This initiative reaffirms the JMI's longstanding commitment to the microscopy facility community.