Disha suggests using formatting as a screening tool only serves as a barrier to wider participation in academic publishing.
Formatting rules for academic journals have been a pain point for academics for decades [Note. a discussion and potential solution for these issues raised on this blog in 2017]. A 2019 study also found that researchers spent a median of fourteen hours formatting each manuscript for publication. Time that could be spent actually doing research.
Yet, many journals still require strict layouts, exact citation styles, fixed title lengths and other technical requirements before they will consider a manuscript for review. This practice made some sense in the past. It makes far less sense today.