“Several of my failings have come to light in recent days, which I was not aware of, but which I do not want and cannot relativize. The political culture in our country is extremely important to me, and I consider it self-evident to derive political responsibility from it. No minister must be burdened with doubts about his competence to perform his office, and therefore I renounce the nomination for the Minister of Science, Research and Innovation of the Government of the Czech Republic.” Pavel said in a statement Bushing (TOP 09).
Wallflower: I welcome the decision
“I welcome Pavel Tuleja’s decision. I have always said that if there are doubts about the appointment of a member of the government, they must be clarified so that they do not burden the performance of the function. Doubts about the ethics of scientific work and the need for further explanation would be particularly burdensome for the minister who is supposed to be dedicated to science and research. I believe that TOP 09 will propose a new candidate in the near future,” said Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) in response to Pavel Tuleja’s decision.
Tuleja faced doubts surrounding his scientific publishing activities. Part of the scientific and academic community took a pause on social networks and in the media over the quality of the professional works published by Tuleja.
Fiala previously said that on Thursday, Tuleja informed him that the University of Silesia would withdraw from the publication list articles that were published in journals included in the so-called potentially predatory list. He emphasized that this was an isolated misconduct, for which he apologized. “However, new comments and information appear, and Tuleja must respond to them, convincingly explain them,” emphasized Fiala.
Pekarová: His misconduct came to light
“The Executive Committee of TOP 09 selected and approved Associate Professor Pavel Tuleja as a nominee for Minister of Science, Research and Innovation for his professional experience and expertise. Unfortunately, in the last few days, several of his mistakes came to light, which he could not ignore. I appreciate that he quickly assessed the whole situation, and thus showed high demands for political responsibility, which is TOP 09’s own,” said Markéta Pekarová Adamová in response (TOP 09). TOP 09 will be looking for it another successor ending with Helena Langšádlová.
The decision to give up the ministerial nomination was also welcomed by Jan Jakob, head of the parliamentary club TOP 09. “I consider Mr. Tuleja’s decision correct. I have always defended the high-quality work of Ms. Langšádlová, and I stand behind this position,” wrote for Blesk Správy.
Pavel will wait for the next proposal
„President Pavel will wait for the next proposal for a minister for science and research from the prime minister and will continue to proceed in accordance with the constitution,” stated for Blesk Zprávy Vojtěch Šeliga, spokesman for the president.
Associate professor of economics and former rector of the University of Silesia Tuleja said on Thursday that he wrote dozens of professional articles during his professional life. The Seznam Zprávy server drew attention to three texts that were published in February 2015, another text is from January 2013, in magazines included in the list of so-called potentially predatory magazines.
They flood the academic environment with irrelevant texts that do not meet the basic requirements of professional texts. Journals do not have to follow the ethical standards of the scientific environment, published texts do not pass the review process and may not 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.
“Terrible output quality”
Some economists and other representatives of the scientific and academic community criticized the poor level of Tuleja’s scientific publications. and used English.
“I would still ‘forgive’ Tulej the publications in predatory magazines. However, the fact that his team does not understand the analysis on which the article is based, and makes it completely meaningless from start to finish, is a much more serious indicator of the quality of his work,” wrote Hynek Cígler from Brno’s Masaryk University on the X network.
Even Jaroslav Borovička, a professor at the Department of Economics at New York University, believes that publishing in predatory journals comes second. “First and foremost is the absolutely terrible quality of the output that Tuleja publishes for his scientific work. The Minister of Science may not be a top scientist, but since he has already devoted himself to scientific work and obtained a doctorate for it, he should at least understand some standards,” said Borovička on Facebook.
They will remove a scientifically inexperienced person from the position of useless minister for science in order to nominate a scientifically unacceptable person there. Nothing beats vanity @top09cz more than this. The most honest solution at the moment is the model we have verified: it should take science under its belt @P_Fiala.
— Karel Havlíček (@KarelHavlicek_) May 3, 2024
Professionally, Tuleja focuses on macroeconomic analyses, national accounting and comparative economics. He is the author or co-author of a number of scientific studies, monographs, articles and teaching texts. He also participated in the solution of several research projects and grants. In addition to his academic work, he works in social and administrative organizations. Among other things, he is also the chairman of the supervisory board of the mining company OKD and the chairman of the board of directors of the registered institute UnikaCentrum.
He has been a member of TOP 09 since 2020, is a member of the council of the Moravian-Silesian Region, and also sits in the council of Havířov. In 2017, he ran unsuccessfully in the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, he was in third place in the Moravian-Silesian candidate TOP 09.
