I came home today to find my copy of Chemical & Engineering News waiting for me… yes, I know, we can get it online, but I like flipping through the real thing. What is unusual about this picture? Well, the issue of C&EN in question is from March 5th, the one with the technical program for the ACS meeting in Chicago – the meeting I returned home from 4 days ago…
I had wondered where it was… I like to browse through the programme before the meeting and get an idea of what I want to see – and the online version is only slightly better than useless (yes, the search feature is great, but browsing is tortuous). Anyway, when the March 26th issue showed up a few days ago with George Whitesides smiling at me, I didn’t think twice about it.
Sure, I live in the UK, so my copies of C&EN have to cross an ocean, but it’s all a bit inconsistent… George shows up a few days before the issue that is three weeks older… I don’t get it. To be fair, it wasn’t much different when I was at UCLA, two or three issues would often show up at the same time and it seems as though I’m not the only one with this problem. If I thought it would make a difference, I’d think about paying my membership dues on time…
Stuart
Stuart Cantrill (Associate Editor, Nature Nanotechnology)
For what it is worth, it works the opposite way too – the RSC’s Chemistry World takes about 4 weeks to reach Canada. By which point I have usually read it several times on line, and C&EN, and all the nature stuff. Sometimes I wonder whether print copies should be optional.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I had put the randomness of my C&EN arrival down to our internal mail, but delivery seems much more erratic in the UK than in So Cal. And I believe they do print it over here so that’s not an excuse.
I’ve had two C&ENs show up on the same day, but never three.
If it makes you feel any better, C&EN’s London correspondent Pat Short also got her March 5 issue at the same time you did.