Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the systematic review

Include if the study:

- Focuses on collaboration between two or more distinct organizations that aims to improve health-related outcomes. Health-related outcomes includes improvements in services, such as care quality, as well as impacts on health outcomes and inequalities.

- Focuses on collaborations at a local level—meaning that the collaborations operate primarily at a sub-national level, such as a state, region, county, or neighbourhood.

- Focuses on collaborations with at least one health care organization (eg a hospital or primary care practice), and at least one non-health care organization (eg local government, housing, social services, or transportation agencies).^a

- Is a systematic or other type of scholarly review of empirical data on collaboration outcomes or processes and mechanisms that may affect collaboration outcomes.

Exclude if the study:

- Focuses on collaboration between professional groups within single organizations, or within merged organizations (even if these organizations were recently distinct).

- Focuses on service delivery partnerships (eg multidisciplinary teams working in primary care) or interprofessional collaboration (eg between clinicians and social workers) without any focus on related collaboration at an organizational level.

- Focuses on collaborations between organizations within the health care system (eg between primary care practices) or between agencies focused on academic research.

- Is not a review article or does not include empirical data on collaboration outcomes or processes and mechanisms thought to affect collaboration outcomes. Reviews of partnership models or theoretical frameworks related to partnerships were excluded.