This paper presents an integrated approach to multidisciplinary collaborative simulation for complex engineering systems. The formulized paradigm of multidisciplinary collaborative simulation for com- plex engineering systems is principally analyzed. An IEEE HLA and web services based framework is proposed to provide a heterogeneous, distributed and collaborative running environment where multidisciplinary modeling, running management and post-processing of collaborative simulation are undertaken. The mechanism of multidisciplinary collaborative modeling, disciplinary model transformation, and time-synchronized simulation advancement are studied in detail. A prototype with the functions of multidisciplinary modeling, running management and post-processing for collaborative simulations is developed, and a typical complex engineering system is chosen as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of this new approach towards collaborative simulation.