OBJECTIVES: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are often created through collaboration among organizations. The use of inconsistent terminology may cause poor communication and delays. This study aimed to develop a glossary of terms related to collaboration in guideline development. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A literature review of collaborative guidelines was performed to develop an initial list of terms related to guideline collaboration. The list of terms was presented to the members of the Guideline International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group, who provided presumptive definitions for each term and proposed additional terms to be included. The revised list was subsequently reviewed by an international, multidisciplinary panel of expert stakeholders. Recommendations received during this pre-Delphi review were implemented to augment an initial draft glossary. The glossary was then critically evaluated and refined through two rounds of Delphi surveys and a virtual consensus meeting with all panel members as Delphi participants. RESULTS: Forty-nine experts participated in the pre-Delphi survey, and 44 participated in the two-round Delphi process. Consensus was reached for 37 terms and definitions. CONCLUSION: Uptake and utilization of this guideline collaboration glossary by key organizations and stakeholder groups may facilitate collaboration among guideline-producing organizations by improving communication, minimizing conflicts, and increasing guideline development efficiency.

Adelaide Health Technology Assessment University of Adelaide Australia

American Academy of Sleep Medicine Darien IL USA

American College of Rheumatology OH USA; American College of Rheumatology Atlanta GA USA

American Diabetes Association VA USA

American Society for Radiation Oncology VA USA

Association of Anaesthetists London UK

Canadian Thoracic Society Ottawa Ontario Canada

Clinical Practice Guidelines American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Jacksonville FL USA

Department of Dermatology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago IL USA

Department of Dermatology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago IL USA; Department of Surgery Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago IL USA; Department of Otolaryngology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago IL USA; Department of Medical Social Sciences Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago IL USA

Department of Dermatology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago IL USA; Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland

Department of Endocrinology Odense University Hospital Odense Denmark

Department of Family Medicine and Population Health Virginia Commonwealth University VA USA

Department of Health Research Methods Evidence and Impact McMaster University Hamilton Canada

Department of Medicine and Surgery Head section of Internal and Cardiovascular Medicine University of Perugia Perugia Italy

Department of Nephrology Sunshine Coast University Hospital Australia; The University of Queensland Australia

Department of Neurosurgery Hospital Ramón y Cajal Madrid Spain

Department of Pathology University of Utah and ARUP Laboratories Salt Lake City UT

Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille Lille France

Department of Pulmonology Botucatu Medical School UNESP São Paulo Brazil

Department of Surgery Yale University School of Medicine New Haven CT USA

Dept of Medical Imaging and Intervention Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital College of Medicine Chang Gung University Taoyuan City Taiwan

Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology Department of Medical Imaging Western University London ON Canada

Division of Vascular Surgery Kootenai Clinic Coeur d'Alene ID USA

European Association of Urology Guidelines Office Arnhem The Netherlands

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; American College of Rheumatology OH USA

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; American Heart Association American College of Cardiology Dallas Texas USA

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Association for Molecular Pathology MD USA

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Washington DC USA

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta GA USA

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control Public Health Agency of Canada Ottawa Ontario Canada

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; College of American Pathologists Northfield IL USA

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Czech National Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare and Knowledge Translation Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic; Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Department of Health Research Methods Evidence and Impact Hamilton Ontario Canada; Department of Biomedical Sciences Humanitas University Milano Italy

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Department of Pediatrics College of Medical Sciences University of Calabar Calabar Nigeria

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Healthcare Infection Society London UK

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Manchester UK

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Oral Medicine Oral Diagnosis and Periodontology Department Cairo University Cairo Egypt

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Pediatrics Department and Quality Management Department King Saud University Medical City Riyadh Saudi Arabia; Research Chair for Evidence Based Health Care and Knowledge Translation King Saud University Riyadh Saudi Arabia

Guidelines International Network Guidelines Collaboration Working Group Scotland; Stony Brook University School of Nursing Stony Brook NY USA

Guidelines International Network Working Group Development of Primary Care Guidelines Belgium; Department of Primary Care Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium; Department of Family Medicine and Population Health University of Antwerp Antwerp Belgium

Head of Quality Improvement Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists London UK

Healthcare Associated Infections and Infection Prevention and Control Section National Advisory Committee on Infection Prevention and Control Centre for Communicable Diseases and Infection Control Public Health Agency of Canada Ottawa Ontario Canada

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania PA USA

Institute of Health Economics Edmonton Alberta Canada

Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes Brussels Belgium

King's College London UK

Royal College of Physicians London UK

Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy The Netherlands

Scientific Council for Health Care Luxembourg

St George's University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust London UK

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada Ottawa Canada

University of Sheffield UK

University of Washington WA USA

Warwick Clinical Trials Unit Warwick Medical School University of Warwick Coventry UK

Erratum In

J Clin Epidemiol. 2024 Nov;175:111514. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2024.111514. PubMed

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