diff --git a/rhodecode/model/scm.py b/rhodecode/model/scm.py
--- a/rhodecode/model/scm.py
+++ b/rhodecode/model/scm.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ from rhodecode.model import BaseModel
 from rhodecode.model.user import UserModel
 
 from rhodecode.model.db import Repository, RhodeCodeUi, CacheInvalidation, \
-    UserFollowing
+    UserFollowing, UserLog
 from rhodecode.model.caching_query import FromCache
 
 from sqlalchemy.orm import joinedload
@@ -333,6 +333,11 @@ class ScmModel(BaseModel):
         return self.sa.query(Repository)\
                 .filter(Repository.fork_id == repo_id).count()
 
+
+    def get_unread_journal(self):
+        return self.sa.query(UserLog).count()
+
+
     def _should_invalidate(self, repo_name):
         """
         Looks up database for invalidation signals for this repo_name