It's been a while, I know, I'm sorry...

So, after counting out which day of our journal journey we're on, number 179 it turns out, here is another entry in the life of setting up a journal.

At the ACS meeting in New Orleans earlier this year (one I will have a hard time forgetting) we gave away Nature Chemistry labcoats - or at any rate we got people to sign up for a couple of e-alerts and then promised to send them a labcoat. Well, we've followed through on that promise and if you were one of those who signed up, either your labcoat should have arrived quite recently, or it will be doing so in the next few days. (I've had reports of them turning up in some cases - let us know if yours has arrived by commenting on this post..).

We've decided to do the same thing again in Philly at the next ACS meeting - sign up for a couple of e-alerts at the Nature Publishing Group stand at the expo (booth 1815/1817) and we'll give you a Nature Chemistry labcoat for free. Although it is not confirmed yet, we may even have some stock at the booth and so if you are quick, you might not have to wait to have yours mailed.

For a bit of fun we've decided to run a competition based on the labcoats... - and full details can be found on the Nature Chemistry Facebook group. We're asking you send us photos of you (or your friends) in your shiny new Nature Chemistry labcoat (and the logo should be visible so that we know you're not just using any old labcoat) - and the five most imaginative ones will win a year-long print subscription to the journal. Please keep the contents of the pictures SAFE (no standing next to explosions or flaming bottles of BuLi) and CLEAN (I'm not going to even explain that one...).

The competition will run through until Feb 2009, so you have plenty of time to snap some cool pics and send them to us - please go to the Nature Chemistry Facebook group for details of how to send us the photos - and that is also where we will post any photos (only the clean and safe ones though) that we receive. Feel free to send in as many photos of you (or your friends) in your Nature Chemistry labcoat as you wish (within reason) - and we'll be writing back to you in March next year if you've won!

So as not to discriminate against those who couldn't make it to New Orleans and won't be attending the ACS meeting in Philly, feel free to design your own custom Nature Chemistry labcoat and send us your pictures (again, clean and safe please...)

Good luck!

Stuart

Stuart Cantrill (Chief Editor, Nature Chemistry)