Pressure on Neruda by force. Predatory magazines are starting to bother even coalition MPs

Danuše Nerudová, the number one candidate of the coalition of Elders and Independents (STAN) for the European Parliament, is facing criticism due to the fact that she published in the past in so-called predatory magazines. The mayors stood up for Neruda, but there are also voices from the government coalition questioning her candidacy. “When will Nerudova end, do we know?” asks Michal Kučera, deputy chairman of the TOP 09 parliamentary club. His party nominated the former rector of the University of Silesia, Pavel Tuleja, to the government. He withdrew his ministerial candidacy after a similar affair that Nerudová is now facing. According to Lidovec MEP Tomáš Zdechovský, Nerudová should not apply for the post of Czech European Commissioner. But the leading female candidate finds support in the STAN movement. “I have a lot of respect for her, among other things, precisely because of her expertise,” Jan Farský, the movement’s number two candidate for the European Parliament, told Echo24.

Danuše Nerudová published in predatory magazines between 2009 and 2015, according to the Seznam Zprávy server, there were a total of nine texts. Nerud, the former rector of Mendel University, told the server that she was not happy that her articles appeared in journals of dubious value. She stopped publishing in them when academia defined the problem of these journals. On the X network, she linked information about the allegedly low quality of her scientific work to the last month of the election campaign.

The publication of texts in magazines described as predatory was one of the reasons why the former rector of the University of Silesia in Opava, Pavel Tuleja (TOP 09), gave up the nomination for Minister of Science last week. Predatory journals publish articles regardless of their quality, the academic environment is flooded with texts that do not meet the basic requirements of professional materials. According to Seznam Zpráv, Nerudová published nine times in foreign journals classified as predatory between 2009 and 2015, when she was vice-dean and then vice-rector at the University of Brno.

“In the academic work of Danuša Nerudová, there are over seventy entries in the Web of Science list. Your question refers to older works that were published before 2016. Before this year, universities did not have clearly defined rules for so-called predatory journals. Several publications by Danuša Nerudová are also on this list. Since the establishment of clear rules, Danuše Nerudová has not published any work in these journals. I have great respect for her, among other things, precisely for her expertise, long-term work in the field of science and education, and for her reputation in professional circles,” Jan Farský told Echo24.

“Who wrote in predatory magazines should not aspire to the post of European Commissioner,” said Zdechovský

Representatives of other political parties are less lenient in explaining former rector Neruda. And even the coalition ones. “When studying for a doctorate, students write several scientific articles for free and try to publish where they can. However, not a select group of pedagogues who publish in so-called predatory journals and report it as their scientific activity. To me, this is at least unethical behavior,” said Tomáš Zdechovský, Member of the European Parliament of the People’s Party, on the X social network, saying that anyone who knowingly wrote in predatory magazines should not seek the post of European Commissioner.

According to former foreign minister Lubomír Zaorálek (SOCDEM), Nerudová should withdraw from the candidate list, similar to Pavel Tuleja. “It is a fraud and dishonestly earned money because she knew full well that she was bypassing the review process. It’s incredibly hypocritical to say now that she doesn’t even remember if she paid for publishing articles, and doesn’t understand that she participated in the destruction of the academic environment,” X Zaorálek said on the social network.

The opposition ANO movement also called for political responsibility. “What cost Mr. Tuleja’s position, STAN will surely go unnoticed. After all, as always,” said member of the ANO movement Radek Vondráček.

“We know when Nerudová will end?” TOP 09 deputy Michal Kučera also wrote on X, alluding to the “fate” of ministerial candidate Pavel Tuleja.

Nerudová published a total of 260 texts of a scientific nature as an author or co-author from 2002 to the present, Seznam Zprávy reported. She contributed nine times to magazines included in the so-called Beall’s list of potentially predatory magazines, in six cases it was the Business Review magazine, the Journal of American Business Review and the American Academy of Business Review.

The former presidential candidate identified the fact that she has not published in problematic journals since 2015 and, for example, data from the Web of Science citation database show a significant shift in the quality of her scientific work. Nerudová also attributes her error to an earlier assessment of science nicknamed the “cafemlejnek”. “He only evaluated the quantity, not the quality of the publications. This was also related to the dynamic development of predatory magazines that were parasitic on the system,” she said. In addition to listing her scientific achievements on the X network, Nerudová wrote that before 2016, universities did not have clearly set rules for predatory journals.