doc. Ing. Pavol Ďurana, PhD.

Courses taught:

Education and academic development:
doc. – Academic-pedagogical title of Associate Professor (docent) in the field of habilitation and inaugural proceedings in Business Economics and Management, University of Žilina, habilitation lecture title: Prediction of the Financial Health of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Conditions of the Slovak Republic, 2024.
PhD. – Full-time doctoral studies, University of Žilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, field of study Business Economics and Management, dissertation title: Corporate Quality Culture under Different Quality Management Systems, 2018.
Ing. – University of Žilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, field of study: Business Economics and Management, 2015.

Guarantor of study programmes:

Research focus:
doc. Ing. Pavol Ďurana, PhD., is the Head of the Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Management Section at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications. He completed his entire education at the University of Žilina in the field of Business Economics and Management. His dissertation addressed the application of quantitative methods in quality management. In his habilitation thesis, he focused on predicting financial health in the conditions of Slovakia. In his research activity, he focuses on the specific application of quantitative methods in predicting financial health and managing corporate earnings, as well as other essential components of corporate financial management. He has participated in the solution of several research projects within the APVV, VEGA, and Erasmus+ schemes. He was principal investigator of the project VEGA 1/0677/22, Quo Vadis, Bankruptcy Models? A Prospective-Longitudinal Cohort Study with an Emphasis on Changes Determined by COVID-19. Among the most significant journals in economics and management in which he has published his outputs are European Journal of Innovation Management, Journal of Business Economics and Management, Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, and Oeconomia Copernicana. He has received several awards for his research work. He was awarded the Rector's Prize of the University of Žilina for the most cited UNIZA publication record in 2022, for the co-authored article Does the life cycle affect earnings management and bankruptcy? He is the recipient of the Literary Fund Prize for Scientific and Professional Literature for 2022 for the monograph Finančné modely v podnikovej praxi: Momentum riadenia ziskov. He has received the Web of Science “Highly Cited Paper” and “Hot Paper” designations several times. He is a member of the VEGA commission for economic and legal sciences of the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the EuroMed Academy.

During his work at the Department of Economics, he has taught, and continues to teach, lectures, seminars, and exercises in the following courses: fundamentals of statistics, economic statistics, financial markets and securities, financial markets and digital finance, statistical analysis, investment management, quantitative and qualitative research, corporate finance, business economics, business decision-making, financial accounting, taxation of business entities, international trade.

Most significant pedagogical outputs:

Ďurana, P., Valášková, K. (2025). Finančné modely v podnikovej praxi. Momentum predikcie finančného zdravia. EDIS Žilina, 2025, 202 p. ISBN 978-80-554-2175-9
Švábová, L., Ďurana, P., Ďurica, M. (2022). Deskriptívna a induktívna štatistika. EDIS Žilina, 2022, 588 p. ISBN 978-80-554-1839-1
Valášková, K., Ďurana, P. (2022). Finančné modely v podnikovej praxi. Momentum riadenia ziskov. EDIS Žilina, 2022, 217 p. ISBN 978-80-554-1905-3
Vagner, L., Podhorská, I., Ďurana, P. (2020). Podnikové financie – Praktikum 2. EDIS Žilina, 2020, 134 p. ISBN 978-80-554-1704-2

Most significant scientific publications:

Durana, P., Poliak, M., Kovalova, E., & Blazek, R. (2025). Prediction models reloaded: Advanced insights for SMEs in the Bucharest Nine countries. Oeconomia Copernicana, 16(2), 689–760. (2025: Q1 – AIS, JCI, JIF, Scimago, author's share – 25%). https://doi.org/10.24136/oc.3764

Singh, B., Srivastava, A. P., Chatterjee, S., Durana, P., & Kliestik, T. (2025). Assessing digital capability for twin transition and profitability: From firm and people perspectives with leadership support as moderator. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 34(4), 1121–1140. (2025: Q2 – AIS, Q1 – JCI, JIF, Scimago, author's share – 25%). https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12698

Ullah, S., Jianjun, Z., Hayat, K., Palmucci, D. N., & Durana, P. (2024). Exploring the factors for open innovation in post-COVID-19 conditions by fuzzy Delphi-ISM-MICMAC approach. European Journal of Innovation Management, 27(5), 1679–1703. (2024: Q2 – AIS, Q1 – JCI, JIF, Scimago, author's share – 25%). https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-10-2022-0550

Durana, P., Valaskova, K., Siekelova, A., & Michalkova, L. (2022). Appraisal of earnings management across the sectors. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 23(2), 399–425. (2022: Q4 – AIS, Q2 – JCI, JIF, Scimago, author's share – 25%). https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2022.16563

Durana, P., Ginevicius, R., Urbanski, M., Podhorska, I., & Tumpach, M. (2021). Parallels and differences in earnings management of Visegrad Four and Baltics. Journal of Competitiveness, 13(3), 39–55. (2021: Q3 – AIS, Q1 – JCI, JIF, Scimago, author's share – 30%). https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2021.03.03

Final thesis topics:

Scientometric data:

Projects:

NFP401101C526, Innovative Personalized Artificial Intelligence Teaching Assistant for Interactive Education, Effective Teaching, and Comprehensive Learning Support – co-investigator
VEGA 1/0494/24, Metamorphoses and Causalities of Indebtedness, Liquidity, and Solvency of Companies in the Context of the Global Environment – co-investigator
VEGA 1/0677/22, Quo Vadis, Bankruptcy Models? A Prospective-Longitudinal Cohort Study with an Emphasis on Changes Determined by COVID-19 – principal investigator
APVV 17-0546, A Variant Comprehensive Model of Earnings Management in the Conditions of the Slovak Republic as an Essential Tool for Reducing Market Uncertainty – co-investigator
VEGA 1/0210/19, Research on Innovative Attributes of the Quantitative and Qualitative Fundamentals of Opportunistic Earnings Modelling – deputy principal investigator

Additional information:

Co-guarantor of the international conference Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2022
Co-guarantor of the international conference Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2021
Member of the editorial board of the journal The Economics & Law Journal