The proposed minister Tuleja has a problem. He published articles in predatory journals, now withdraws them

TOP 09 candidate for Minister of Science Pavel Tuleja asked the University of Silesia to remove from his publication list articles that were published in journals included on Beall’s list of so-called potentially predatory journals. The texts come from 2015, he said on Thursday on the X network. In retrospect, he feels that he should have checked the quality of the publishing house where the articles were published more. University of Silesia spokeswoman Gordana Raková confirmed that the university had already received Tulej’s application.

“I informed the Prime Minister about the publications in predatory magazines, and at the same time I would like to publicly apologize. I will not comment further at the moment,” Tuleja said after Thursday’s meeting with Petr Fiala (ODS).

The deputy chairman of TOP 09 Michal Kučera stood up for the candidate. “He explained it sufficiently, he apologized, the articles have been taken down. I think that the matter is old enough and not so important that it does not threaten his ministerial post,” Kučera told reporters in the House of Representatives. According to the head of the parliamentary faction, Josef Cogan, the Coalition Mayors will demand an explanation of the matter from their partners, they do not yet have more detailed information.

The economist and former rector of the University of Silesia, Tuleja, said on Thursday that he had written dozens of professional articles during his professional life. “I noticed that information appeared about texts that I co-authored and that were published in journals on Beall’s list. I found that they are from 2015,” he said. In retrospect, he feels that he should have checked the quality of the publishing house more. “I publicly apologize for this mistake. I have already asked the University of Silesia to remove the relevant articles from my publication list,” he added.

The Seznam Zprávy server drew attention to the fact that it is a trio of texts that were published in February 2015, the other text is from January 2013. The co-author was Karin Gajdová, the current ANO representative in Ludgeřovice in the Opava region. “Those things were put together by the doctoral student who published the articles with me. I gave her the background for the articles, the materials,” Tuleja told the server.

Gajdová said on Thursday that at the time she was just gaining experience in the academic sphere and did not know about the list of predatory journals. “In any case, the main goal of these articles was to present them at international conferences with a subsequent discussion, where it was possible to get feedback and also listen to the critical opinions of experts,” she said.

So-called predatory journals flood the academic environment with irrelevant texts that do not meet the basic requirements of professional texts. Journals do not have to comply with the ethical standards of the scientific environment, published texts do not undergo peer review and do not have to be of sufficient professional quality. Publication in professional journals is an important part of the work of scientists and is a necessary tool for obtaining grants. The methodology for detecting potentially predatory journals was developed by American professor Jeffrey Beall.

President Petr Pavel should appoint Tuleja as a member of the government on Monday, May 6. She will replace Helena Langšádlová (TOP 09) in the coalition cabinet, who is leaving due to dissatisfaction of the parent party with the way she presented the results of her work in public.