Conference papers should be abolished, because they require international travel, which is getting more difficult every year. 10–20 years ago, when travel was cheap and easy, it was mostly just people from developing countries who could often not attend. Typically because they could not afford it or get a visa in time. But today almost everyone is impacted by wars, international tensions, travel restrictions, immigration policies, and the overall uncertainty.

I've attended three international conferences in the past year. In each of them, there were plenty of people missing. People who would usually have attended but could not, due to issues that did not exist in the 2010s.