Yes, but this works if your tool understands fonts. Maybe they also change paragraph spacing ever so slightly, AND they change some letters with cyrilic alternatives that look the same, AND they add some 0-width spaces, and and and.
They could change "the" into "a" in different places. This is the kind of stuff done when documents that shouldn't be leaked are handed to politicians.
> They could change "the" into "a" in different places.
Bad bad bad bad, again bad idea. That changes the structure and the meaning of the content. A single word replacement can change the context of the entire sentence which can change the content of the entire paper. Changing it can create unintended effects which can make Elsevier to thrash their reputation and universities will move on to different scientific/academic journals site.
If Elsevier tries this method with peer-reviewed papers, then it have to go through the reviews again to ensure that the original and the revision have the equivalent expression which is difficult to do. Authors chose those words and structure to convey their expression in those papers. They chose it for a reason and Elsevier is not going to risk their reputation to change the authors papers without affecting the content of the paper.
