Future minister Tuleja in trouble? He published in dubious scientific journals

The Communications Department of the Office of the President of the Republic stated that Pavel accepted the resignation of the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová (TOP 09) on Thursday. The resignation is dated Sunday, May 5.

Before that, Tuleja also met with Prime Minister Petr Fialova. “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 said after the meeting.

Fiala confirmed it. “I listened to his arguments and accepted his public apology. I sent the proposal for the appointment of Pavel Tuleja to Mr. President,” wrote Fiala afterwards.

“It’s a matter so old that it in no way threatens his ministerial post,” TOP 09 vice-chairman Michal Kučera defended Tulej. “It is mainly their responsibility, we will wait for an explanation of the situation,” responded the head of STAN deputies, Josef Cogan.

University of Silesia spokeswoman Gordana Raková confirmed that Tuleja’s request had already been received by the university.

The economist and former rector of the University of Silesia, Tuleja, said that he had written dozens of professional articles during his professional life. “I have noticed that information has appeared about texts that I co-authored and that have been published in journals on Beall’s list. I found out 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 pointed out that it is a trio of texts that were published in February 2015. Another text is from January 2013, the co-author was Karin Gajdová, the current representative for ANO in Ludgeřovice in the Opava region. “Those things were put together by a doctoral student who published the articles with me. I gave her the materials for those articles,” Tuleja told the server. The website has not been able to contact Gajdová yet.

Predator magazines do not follow standards

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.