The study is concerned with scientific (i.e., professional) recognition and communication behavior in theoretical high energy physics. The sample consists of 977 respondents working in thirty-eight countries. The conferral of two components of professional recognition, research leadership and advisorship, as they are affected by geopolitical and cultural factors is examined. Introduced into this analysis are three additional independent variables: institutional concentration which refers to the number of theoretical high energy physicists at an institution; country group which concerns the level of activity in a particular country in this area of physics, and professional activity which refers to scientists' involvement in such activities as teaching, consulting, editorial work, etc. The study then proceeds to investigate the relative importance of particular variables in accounting for differential usage of formal, semi-formal and informal channels of communication in satisfying several specific information needs. The relative importance of each of the independent variables are examined with the effects of other variables controlled as appropriate. (Author)