During this past year, the JBI centers in the Americas have focused on increasing collaboration amongst themselves. Collaboration is defined as working together, and this activity requires cooperation.1 Cooperation is a necessary first step to collaborating on a project or a vision, but cooperation describes an association for common benefit. I posit that collaboration is a higher order concept that requires cooperation, leadership and a relationship between the collaboration parties.

The large geographic spread of the JBI centers in the Americas notwithstanding, we have embarked on quarterly telephone conference calls, frequent email communication, and annual in-person meetings that are tied to a regional research conference. While these are typical modes of engagement when collaborating, it should be noted that collaboration, in and of itself, is not without challenges. Collaboration is often assumed to be a working state between individuals and larger organized bodies. But the fact remains that working collaboratively is more difficult than working solo or within a work group in close proximity. This may be due to a variety of reasons, including logistics involved in connecting, time lag between encounters leading to inertia, and lack of shared understanding. And yet, the plurality of understandings that contributes to collaborative work is precisely why collaboration is so valuable. Work born out of collaborative thinking, in my experience, is typically deeper and more pluralistic in terms of reference points, perspectives and citations. And, due to the close working relationships of those involved, collaboration further strengthens those relationships and thus leads to more collaboration. Dawna Markova and Angie McArthur sum this up simply: "The more we share, the more we have."2^(p.11)

The JBI centers of the Americas are organized under the name Implementation Science and Synthesis Network of the Americas or ISSNA for short. While we are still in a fledgling state, important infrastructure has begun over this past year:

* A website has been created and final content is being vetted and populated before going live

* By-laws and guiding principles for the governance of ISSNA have been drafted

* A contact resource management tool is being set up for ISSNA communication through email blasts.

We know that four organizational elements are critical to collaboration: defining and building a shared purpose; cultivating an ethic of contribution; developing processes that enable people to work together in flexible but disciplined projects; and creating an infrastructure in which collaboration is valued and rewarded.3 We believe that our emerging infrastructure will assist us in this work, along with continued connection through collaborative efforts. The JBI centers of the Americas are all hard at work with their own synthesis and implementation science projects, as well as helping new Affiliated Groups gain their footing through ongoing mentorship. The collaborative projects between the centers are in addition to other equally vital work. While more work is ahead of us, ISSNA is bigger and stronger than the sum of its parts and that is precisely why we have chosen to embark on the sampling of the showcased collaborative work listed below:

* Bennett, M. (in progress). Screening and organizing the evidence. In Y. Jadotte, C. Holly, & S. Salmond (Eds), Systematic Review: A Practical Workbook.

* Rittenmeyer, L. & Godfrey, C. (published). The experience of patients, families and/or significant others of waiting when engaging with the healthcare system: A qualitative systematic review.

* Salmond S. & Cooper, A. (2017). Steps in the systematic review process (pp. 17-38). In C. Holly, S. Salmond & M. Saimbert (Eds), Comprehensive systematic review for advanced practice nursing (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.

* Salmond, S. & Stannard, D. (2017). Systematic review of qualitative evidence. (pp. 249-278). In C. Holly, S. Salmond & M. Saimbert (Eds), Comprehensive systematic review for advanced practice nursing (2nd ed.). New York: Springer.

* Slyer, J., Godfrey, C., Ross-White, A., Rosenstein, J. (in progress). Finding the Evidence. In Y. Jadotte, C. Holly, & S. Salmond (Eds), Systematic Review: A Practical Workbook.

* Soares, C. B., Schveitzer, M. C., & Stannard, D. (in progress). Appraising, extracting, and synthesizing qualitative evidence. In Y. Jadotte, C. Holly, & S. Salmond (Eds), Systematic Review: A Practical Workbook.

The Library Scientist Day at the Queen's Joanna Briggs Collaboration Conference of the Americas

For the first time at the Conference of the Americas (September 27-October 2, 2016), we dedicated a track to the science of systematic review searching, with the catchy title of "Library Day". Our colleagues in the library enjoyed coming together to discuss how to increase capacity in systematic review searching, methods for evaluating citation management software, and the learning needs of systematic review searchers, among other great topics. To cap off the day, Dr. Margaret Sampson led a workshop on the peer review of electronic search strategies, modelled after the latest release (2015) of the PRESS guidelines.

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