The HASE Collaboration
An International online external peer review service for incubation
of manuscripts, protocols, etc (in pre-submission &/or pre-IRB stage),
a service of the Institute of HIV/AIDS Surveillance & Epidemiology (iHASE)
☼ quality assurance & continuing education through peer review ☼

PURPOSE: The HASE collaboration is a global virtual network of Epidemiologists, researchers and Public Health practitioners who conduct HIV/AIDS surveillance & epidemiology (HASE) studies in support of HIV and related disease control and prevention program planning, development and implementation, including program monitoring and evaluation research. This initiative is spearheaded by highly motivated researchers based at many academic institutions and community/public health agencies across the world who conduct collaborative and interdisciplinary research in the public interest and share a commitment to making the world's epidemiologic, scientific and medical expertise, knowledge and literature an easily accessible public resource. In partnership with jHASE, the Journal of HIV/AIDS Surveillance & Epidemiology, the Institute of HIV/AIDS Surveillance & Epidemiology (iHASE) convened 'The HASE collaboration', an iHASE Peer Review Collaboraton Center (iHASE-PRCC), as a nonprofit 'collaborative' mechanism for bringing together a global virtual network of HIV/AIDS surveillance & epidemiology (HASE) peer review team of iHASE adjunct faculty and fellows to collaborate with community/public health agencies and their research partners to provide quality assurance & continuing education through systematic collaborative reviews of public health surveillance, population transmission dynamics, disease intervention epidemiology, monitoring and evaluation, and other studies on HIV/AIDS.

BACKGROUND, RATIONALE AND SIGNIFICANCE: The impetus for the establishment of The HASE collaboration was the recognition of a need for a nurturing 'journal-like' mentored and collaborative peer review environment through which HIV/AIDS surveillance and epidemiology researchers (and practitioners) can engage in quality assurance and continuing education through peer review during the developmental or advanced 'pre-journal submission' stages of the writing of an HIV/AIDS surveillance & related epidemiology research manuscript for any of the following:

1. An article presenting original research, methods, policy, a case report or outbreak investigation,
2. An article presenting publication-format practice guidelines,
3. Research or pilot/demonstration project protocol (incl. fully-fledged protocols for purposes of pre-submission review of a grant application or for IRB review),
4. An article presenting a new design, analytical or conceptual framework for public health research or practice,
5. A proposed special journal (jHASE) issue intending to present a series/group of articles for a monograph such as a conference issue, publication-format dissertation/thesis or epidemiologic profile,
6. A brief article (<1500 words) expanding a conference abstract and/or poster [based on work previoulsy accepted and presented at a recent (<10 years) peer reviewed scientific conference],
7. A brief commentary article presenting an independent review/evaluation of a selected published article on a topic of public health importance,
8. An article (or series of articles) for a dissertation/thesis.

ADVANCEMENT OF PEER REVIEWED WORK TOWARDS JOURNAL PUBLICATION & OPEN ACCESS DISSEMINATION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE:

Publication by the Journal of HIV/AIDS Surveillance & Epidemiology - jHASE: To advance 'The HASE collaboration series' and open access to reference materials, upon submission of any of the above-listed works for preparation with technical support/systematic collaborative review provided by The HASE collaboration teams, authors/practitioners pledge to submit the work (except grant application or IRB review submissions) for further external peer review to jHASE and, if accepted, published without barriers to access immediately upon acceptance in jHASE as part of 'The HASE Collaboration Series'.

Publication by 'The HASE collaboration' &/or jHASE: Various types of peer reviewed work from this collaborative may be selected for initial direct publication and archiving by 'The HASE collaboration' with indexing in Google Scholar [articles presenting seminal works of public health importance (or commenting thereon) may also be published in jHASE as an expanded brief article of < 1500 words]. Articles under this category may include:

1. Selected abstracts and/or posters presenting works of public health importance accepted and published through peer reviewed recent conferences (< 15 years ago) may be republished and archived by 'The HASE collaboration' to facilitate dissemination and indexing,
2. Peer-reviewed commentaries (referenced under "Background ..." above) on selected previously published articles (from jHASE or other journals) presenting groundbreaking/seminal works of public health importance may be published (and archived) in The HASE collaboration's Faculty of 500! Selected Works Section [this section rates published research articles on their own merits rather than according to the prestige of the journal in which they were published (Impact factor)]. These peer reviewed commentaries will also be indexed in Google Scholar.

PUBLIC HEALTH APPLICATION: Through this mechanism, The HASE collaboration facilitates development, incubation, refinement and quality assurance of public health agency research studies in order to catalyze and fast-track the development of a body of authoritative reference literature needed by public health agencies for evidence-based public health decision-making, policy, and interventions. Through the development of a body of rigorously peer reviewed reference materials of relevance to HIV/AIDS surveillance and epidemiology support for public health interventions, The HASE collaboration facilitates the choices that practitioners, consumers, policy-makers and others face in the implementation of HIV prevention and care programs.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HASE COLLABORATION: HIV/AIDS Surveillance & Epidemiology researchers, HIV public health practitioners and others interested in obtaining/providing peer review should click on the above link for "ABOUT" for information on online registration, login or submission to initiate participation in peer review in The HASE collaboration.