The study sets out to compare personal studies from 1982 to 2003 as regards 8 articles on the role of the reprint request (RR) in fostering scientific communication. As early as 1986, the Editor of English for Specific Purposes cited the author as "the only active researcher" that he had "traced in the RR area. " In this context, 2 papers published in 1972 and 1974 in cardiology were presented together with 4 associated reprints. Actually, the study confirmed the phenomenon of "clustering. " Thus, US most active contemporaneous scientists were affiliated in only 8 of the entire states. Out of these, 2 states appeared in the local catchment. In other words, this means that the "tracer tool" function of RR has been demonstrated. However, the Internet is now predominant in such sociological studies; it will no doubt be useful in such tracings.