But paper from League of European Research Universities says that anonymous reports of research misconduct should be avoided

Universities should appoint “confidential counsellors” at a faculty level to advise staff and students on research integrity issues, according to a new report from some of Europe’s leading institutions.

An advice paper published by the League of European Research Universities says it is “important that researchers are able to…obtain strictly confidential advice”, adding that “in many cases researchers face problems that they do not immediately want to share with their colleagues”.
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This is particularly an issue when the researcher’s career is partly dependent on their colleague, such as in the case of a PhD student and their supervisor, it says.
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Antoine Hol, professor of jurisprudence at Utrecht University, chair of the Leru research integrity group and co-author of the paper, said that it was relatively common for universities to have confidential counsellors or advisers at a university level, but it was important for institutions to make such appointments at a faculty level so that they are easily accessible and understand the specific culture that researchers might be facing.

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