After two attempts to develop State standards for abuser intervention programs (AIP's), and as a result of extensive debate and compromise, Maryland has created a modest set of operating guidelines as a first step toward developing empirically based practice standards in the future. A group of AIP directors and academicians has established a research task force that has begun to review existing knowledge, design investigations, and disseminate information to inform program practices and to aid in the development of empirically based program standards. Maryland's goal is to serve as a national model for a scientific approach to abuser intervention program practice and standards. The stated goals of the operational guidelines for Maryland are to establish responsibility to victims and accountability to the courts, so as to ensure that abusers are referred to programs that focus on stopping abuse, to promote partnerships with the legal community and victims' advocacy programs, and to provide outreach to victims. The guidelines place few restrictions on intervention practices, given the absence of a compelling scientific basis for favoring specific intervention models or procedures. A standard set of definitions for abusive behavior is provided in order to outline the scope of the problem addressed by abuser programs. A collaborative group of practitioners and researchers was formed in early 1997. Since its inception, the Research Collaborative has focused on building the capacity to conduct collaborative research through the development of mutually beneficial working alliances between practitioners and researchers. One goal is to use collaborative dialog in order to formulate research questions that generate strong interest among both treatment providers and investigators. Another goal is to build the capacity for research at participating programs by establishing standard intake data collection procedures, standard agreements regarding the use of human subjects and the reporting of research results, a strategy for estimating program costs associated with research, and standard methods for assessing program effects. The Research Collaborative also aims to develop a consistent feedback loop whereby information about research can be disseminated to Maryland AIP's for the purpose of encouraging the use of best practices in the State. Such efforts are anticipated to lead to the eventual development of practice standards. 11 references and appended set of guidelines