5/2/2024 Updated yesterday at 10:24 p.m.|Source: ČTK, ČT24
Candidate for Minister of Science and Research Pavel Tuleja on his appointment (source: ČT24)
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 in Beall’s list of so-called potentially predatory journals. He stated this after a meeting with Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) and also on the X network, stating that the texts come from 2015. In retrospect, he feels that he should have checked the quality of the publishing house where the articles were published. Fiala accepted his public apology and sent a proposal to the Castle for Tulej’s appointment. The president is supposed to do it on Monday.
“My priorities (as a minister) are to try to complete the law on science, research, innovation and knowledge transfer, the second priority is to help the Minister of Education to get the law on universities approved, the third priority is the issue of transfer, and we also talked about interest-free loans, ” said Tuleja after the meeting with the Prime Minister. According to Tuleja, the possibilities to support students in their studies already exist today, but they are not sufficient, he claims.
Tuleja also briefly commented on the issue of the already mentioned articles. “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,” he said.
He stated that he had written dozens of professional texts 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 they were from 2015,” he said.
In retrospect, he says, he feels that he should have controlled 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 university confirmed the request.
According to a statement to ČTK, Fiala heard Tulej’s arguments in the case of publishing scientific articles and accepted his public apology. The Prime Minister also sent a proposal to the Castle for the appointment of a new minister.
Server Seznam Správy warned, 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 background for articles, materials,” Tuleja told the server.
Gajdová said on Thursday that at that 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.
The deputy chairman of TOP 09, Michal Kučera, stood up for Tuleja. “He explained it sufficiently, he apologized, the articles are taken down. I think this is a matter so old and not so important that it does not threaten his ministerial post,” said Kučera. 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.
Among other things, predatory magazines do not meet ethical 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.
On Thursday, President Petr Pavel accepted the resignation of Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová (TOP 09), who is resigning due to dissatisfaction of the parent party with the way she presented the results of her work in public. The resignation is dated Sunday, May 5.
Deputy Speaker of the Chamber Věra Kovářová (STAN) on Thursday Events, comments she stated that she did not want to frame the TOP 09 candidate, but then added that reputation in general, including the scientific one, is “very important”. “As I noted, the issue of predatory journals is a problem of Czech science, and Minister Langšádlová also solved that problem,” reminded Kovářová. He says he regrets Langšádlová’s departure, although he respects the coalition partner’s decision.
Vondráček: Terrible amateurism
ANO Vice-Chairman Radek Vondráček pointed out that it is normal that when someone is to become a minister, he is scrutinized by the media and those around him. “And if he has a reputational problem, I have already experienced during my active political career that (such a person) did not take office at all or was in office for a few days. This is terrible amateurism,” he mentioned. At the same time, he repeated that it would be best if no other minister took up the vacant post.
Václav Štětka, a media sociologist working at Loughborough University in Great Britain, said that publishing in predatory journals is “generally perceived as an ethical transgression”. “Those magazines publish either completely banal or scientifically inferior texts. In extreme cases, even those that have almost no meaning – scientific or grammatical,” stated the academician.
Events, comments: Doubts surrounding the scientific work of the proposed Minister for Science Tuleja (source: ČT24)
