[enriquto]

This pre-filtering before the review is done by the editors (editorial board and section editors), who are fellow scientists just like the reviewers.

The only task done directly by Elsevier staff is the copy-editing once the article is accepted.

[jasode]

>The only task done directly by Elsevier staff is the copy-editing once the article is accepted.

Elsevier is looking to fill salaried positions for their editorial staff. This qualifications are scientists with PhDs. Examples:

https://www.glassdoor.com/partner/jobListing.htm?&jobListing...

https://www.glassdoor.com/partner/jobListing.htm?&jobListing...

Either the meme that Elsevier employees "do nothing but spell-check LaTeX markup files" is wrong ... or ... it depends on the particular journals in question. For the job listing examples above, one of the job duties is curation of content (e.g. "assessing submitted research papers") and not just copy-editing. So for that Elsevier imprint (Cell Reports), if you submit a paper about "GMO foods proves Darwin Theory of Evolution is Wrong", their unpaid reviewers won't even see it. One of Elsevier's editorial functions is to filter that crap out.

[denzil_correa]

Just because there is a job listing doesn't mean they do the filtering. I've served on several Computer Science conference reviewer committees and I have seen no filtering done whatsoever.

[jasode]

>Computer Science conference reviewer committees and I have seen no filtering done whatsoever.

The published collection of papers from a conference are more like a anthology of the talks given (Springer is common example publisher) rather than a quality curation via rigorous peer-review. A bunch of experts wasting time with unfiltered crap is probably the norm. Virtually none of those conference papers collections have reputations to accumulate "impact".

The prestigious journals like "Cell", "Lancet", or "Journal of the American College of Cardiology" do not forward unfiltered junk papers to reviewers.

Your experience with conferences is a different situation.