Peer review is essentially a quality control technique for journal publishing. It is a procedure in which specialists assess academic works with the goal of ensuring that published science is of high quality. Peer reviewers, on the other hand, do not make the final decision on whether or not to accept or reject publications. They can just provide a recommendation. Journal editors or the journal's editorial board have sole decision-making authority in peer-reviewed journals.
Indeed, the journal editor is seen as a key player in the decision-making process.

Journal decision-making process
A journal editor typically screens an article once it is submitted to a journal and determines whether or not to send it for full peer review. The paper is only forwarded to one or more peer reviewers after passing the initial screening. Finally, the peer reviewers' reports are considered by journal editors or the editorial board, who make the final decision on whether to approve or reject the paper for publication.

Initial processing
Every year, around 3 million submissions are submitted to journals. Because of the high amount of article submissions, an increasing number of publications are screening manuscripts before sending them out for complete peer review. The following are the primary things that journal editors look for during the initial screening:
Hundreds of papers are reviewed by journal editors each year. The cover letter is one of the first things editors will look at, and if the research does not appear fascinating enough, they may not read any further. As a result, writers must construct a well-written cover letter that highlights the relevance and depth of their study while also demonstrating why the publication is a suitable fit for the journal. Editors will then review the abstract, as well as the introduction, figures and tables, and other portions of the paper, to see if the manuscript meets their quality standards.

The advantages of screening process :

• A swift rejection allows the author to immediately discover and submit their material
  to another publication if the paper plainly falls beyond the scope of the journal.
• When peer reviewers have to spend time reviewing and providing input on a paper that
  is plainly of poor quality, their time is squandered.

Conclusion
Top-tier journals are frequently obliged to reject even high-quality manuscripts due to a huge number of submissions or a lack of match with the journal's editorial emphasis due to a big number of submissions. While reviewers and editors may readily agree on what should not be published, selecting what is worthy of publishing is a more difficult task. Finally, journal editors make judgments on whether or not to accept or reject manuscripts based on their
assessment of the articles' publishing potential and feedback from reviewers.