Candidate for Minister of Science Pavel Tuleja from TOP 09 is facing accusations that he published in a predatory journal years ago. “The future minister did not do science, but rather reported publications,” criticizes his work Michael Komm from the civic association Science lives!. Tuleja said he was sorry. He said he didn’t know about it before. And he asked the University of Silesia to remove from his publication list articles that appeared in potentially predatory journals.
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Prague
12:38 p.m 5/2/2024 (Updated: 1:16 p.m. 5/2/2024)
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Pavel Tuleja | Photo: Jaroslav Ožana | Source: ČTK
The text by Karin Gajdová and Pavel Tuleja was published in March 2015 in the International Journal of Information and Education Technology. At the same time, according to the association Veda, he lives! appears on Beall’s List, which warns of possible predatory, questionable journals and publishers.
Beall’s List
The phenomenon of predatory magazines and publishers was made famous by American librarian Jeffrey Beall. He published the names of fraudulent media on his website. And for a long time it worked as a useful tool for identifying low-quality journals and publishers. However, in January 2017, Beall canceled the page, Charles University describes on its website. He is also credited with introducing the concept of predatory magazines.
“It shows that the future minister did not do science, but rather reported publications. Either for the purpose of evaluating his workplace or perhaps trying to get a professorship,” explains Michael Komm, vice-chairman of the civic association Science lives!, for iROZHLAS.cz and Radiožurnál.
That a magazine in which a possible future minister published nine years ago appears on Beall’s list is a shame, according to Komm. And he adds that it damages Tulej’s reputation as a scientist. “He didn’t do high-quality science, on the contrary, he did low-quality science, which in my opinion is even worse than if he didn’t do any,” notes Komm, adding that this is not the only such text by Tulej.
The candidate for minister Tulej said that he was sorry. He added that he did not arrange the publication of the texts. “I take it as my mistake in retrospect. If the professional public demands my apology, of course I will apologize for it,” he told the Seznam Zprávy server.
According to him, the publication of the texts was ensured by the then doctoral student Karin Gajdová, today a representative for ANO in Ludgeřovice in the Opava region.
About Pavlo Tulej
In 2008, Pavel Tuleja obtained the title of associate professor in the field of economics at the Mining University – Technical University in Ostrava. In November 2014, the Academic Senate of the University of Silesia in Opava elected him rector. He then took over the leadership of the university from March 2015. He finished as rector last February. An article co-authored by Tuleja was published in March 2015. Inside, in his profile, Tuleja writes that he is “preparing to become a professor”.
Tuleja already asked University of Silesia to from his publication list she downloaded articles that appeared in potentially predatory journals. The spokeswoman of the University of Silesia, Gordana Raková, confirmed to the ČTK agency that the university had already received the request.
At the same time, Tuleja stated that he had already informed the management of TOP 09 about everything. And they stood up for him. He will remain the TOP 09 candidate for Minister of Science. “As soon as the information appeared, Associate Professor Tuleja began to address it and requested that these articles be removed from his publication list,” party chairwoman Markéta Pekarová Adamová told Seznam Zprávy. “I see no reason to change anything about her,” she added.
Tuleja also talked about the whole situation with Prime Minister Petr Fiala from ODS. “I informed the Prime Minister about the publications in predatory magazines and at the same time I would like to apologize publicly. I will not comment further at this time,“ Tuleja told the ČTK agency after a meeting with the Prime Minister on Thursday.
President Petr Pavel should appoint Tuleja as a member of the government on Monday. In the coalition cabinet, she will replace Helena Langšádlová from TOP 09, who is leaving due to the mother party’s dissatisfaction with the way she presented the results of her work in public.
Problems with questionable magazines
Publication in professional journals is an important part of the work of scientists. It is a tool for obtaining grants or academic degrees.
Predatory journals are dubious outlets that academics pay to publish their writings. These periodicals have poor peer review. And the quality of the articles is usually very low from a scientific point of view.
TOP 09 candidate for Minister of Science and Research is ex-rector Tuleja. ‘He will be a reinforcement,’ the prime minister expects
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The mentioned journal is also dubious according to Daniel Münich of CERGE-EI, an economist focused on research in the field of education. “In my opinion, there are a number of indications that this is really a very strange journal (editorial board, length of review process, contribution of printed articles and their authors, fees and overall appearance of the website, indexing…) which should be avoided at all costs,” reviewed for the iROZHLAS.cz server.
Alice Němcová Tejkalová, the incoming dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University, had a problem with predatory magazines seven years ago. Dozens of representatives of Czech and foreign universities and scientific workers of the Academy of Sciences opposed her appointment in an open letter. However, Němcová Tejkalová eventually became dean, holding the post from 2018 to 2022.
Anna Jadrná
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