Flying sofa conferences in Ukraine: dataset (2024)

The presented dataset contains generalized information on the activities of the Ukrainian online platforms that organized remote and correspondence scientific conferences with the features of “flying sofa” formats in 2024. The data covers 18 providers and contains detailed characteristics of each conference, including the number of submitted abstracts, language distribution of materials, the share of authors from Ukraine and those with foreign affiliations, a list of affiliation countries, the cost of organizational contributions, and the estimated income of organizers. For each platform, the number of conferences in the sample, their thematic focus, type of conduct, formal participation parameters (deadlines, ECTS credits, payment terms), and other structural features are also recorded. The dataset enables us to recreate a picture of the functioning of the “online conferences” segment, which does not actually involve scientific interaction but is used by authors to fulfill the formal requirements of publication activity. A total of 44,103 abstracts from authors in Ukraine were recorded, which represents 95% of all materials in the database (46,408). In addition, the data enable us to assess the economic dimension of the phenomenon: the minimum revenues of providers and the costs incurred by Ukrainian authors for each conference platform have been calculated. The dataset can be used to analyze the structure of pseudoscientific events, model risks to academic integrity, develop indicators for identifying suspicious conferences, and justify changes in the system of evaluating scientific activity.