Promoting research integrity

Why should I submit a report?

A positive and open culture of research funding includes compliance with rules and regulations specific to the sciences and humanities as well as legal provisions.

By submitting your report, you will help disclose incidents that could damage the integrity or funding of the research system in Germany.

What sort of reports will help the DFG?

The DFG is responsible for incidents that occur in the research system which are related to its funding/ committee activities. When reports are received, they are forwarded and examined via this system.

In the course of the reporting process, you will receive detailed information on the possible categories of a report.

What is the process for submitting a report? What is a postbox and how do I set up one?

To submit an anonymous or personalised report, start by clicking the “Submit report“ button at the top of our introduction page.

There are 4 steps to the report process:

1. First, you will be asked to read some information on the protection of your anonymity and to respond to a security query.
2. On the following page, you will be asked about the category of your report.
3. On the report page, you can elaborate on your report in your own words and answer questions about the incident by simply selecting responses. You can type up to 5000 characters into the free text field, which corresponds to a full A4 page. You may also submit a file of up to 50 MB to support your report. Please do bear in mind that documents can contain information about the author. Following the sending of your report, you will receive a reference number as confirmation that you have forwarded this report. Please make a note of this reference number.
4. Please subsequently set up your own secured postbox. You will receive feedback from us via this postbox, including answers to questions and information about the progress of your report.

If you already have a secured postbox, you can access it directly via the ”Login“ button. First, you will have to answer a security query.

As long as you do not enter any data from which conclusions about your person can be drawn, the technology of the BKMS^® System will protect your anonymity.

The DFG explicitly provides this reporting channel in order to offer the option of anonymous communication regarding DFG-related incidents that occur within the research system. Unlike other anonymous reporting options such as a letter or a telephone call without the caller or writer being named, this system offers the advantage of enabling the DFG to continue to communicate with the anonymous complainant/ whistleblower. Thank you for contributing to a rule-based, self-governing and equal-opportunity research system!

How do I receive feedback and remain anonymous at the same time?

The overriding principle of the procedure is to protect the identity of complainants/ whistleblowers. In order to ensure this, the DFG commissioned EQS Group GmbH as an external service provider to manage the technical implementation and maintenance of the system. The technical functionality of anonymous reporting in EQS Group’s digital system has been certified by an additional independent body.

For a presentation of how BKMS^® System works and details of the system’s certifications, see: https://www.eqs.bkms-system.com.

When setting up your secured postbox, you choose the pseudonym/user name and password yourself. This access data is not visible to anyone but yourself. If you lose your access data, please submit a new report and set up a new postbox. If possible, please indicate the reference number of your old report or indicate that you are submitting a new report of an incident you reported previously. Since this is a new anonymous postbox for you, it will not provide access to the content of your old report.

Your report is kept anonymous through encryption and other special security procedures. If you wish to submit your report anonymously, you do not have to provide any personal information. In this case, please do not enter any data that could be used to draw conclusions as to your identity; when sending other materials, make sure that they do not reveal who created them.

When submitting your report, please do not use an end device such as a PC or smartphone that has been provided by your employer.

You will receive feedback from those responsible at the DFG via your secured postbox. You may also be asked further questions that are necessary to process your report – your anonymity will continue to be maintained during the dialogue.

Who processes my reports?

The reports received via the reporting system are automatically forwarded to the DFG division responsible for the category in question.

The category “Research misconduct related to DFG-funded research/ activities” is handled by the Equal Opportunities, Research Integrity and Cross-Programme Development Division.

The other two categories, "Misuse of DFG grant funds” and "Corruption/ conflicts of interest related to DFG-funded research/ activities” are handled by the Economics, Auditing and Compliance Division.

If a report is relevant to more than one category, the two divisions coordinate with each other. The person submitting the report decides who receives the report first by selecting the category.