Freedom for research, and national development.

This article discusses academic freedom for research with a focus on research in STEM fields. Any freedom is not absolute and is associated with certain responsibilities. Freedom for research has two dimensions: freedom for selecting topics for research and freedom for the conduct of research and this article focuses on the first dimension. The academic freedom available to faculty can be exercised by them to gain recognition based on scientometric indicators (number of articles,citations,journal impact factor,h-index,etc.),or to establish and deepen international collaborations,or to satisfy innate curiosity,but working to link their research to national development agenda is more significant for the country. Managements of higher education institutes should devise reward system to recognize such linkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]