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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Proposed new rules at the National Institutes of Health would require NIH-funded researchers to disclose more about their financial relationships with private industry.

The agency's push for better disclosure follows criticism from Congress and others about scientists' ties to private companies that aren’t made public or are understated. The proposed rules were released Thursday and the public now has 60 days to comment on them.

Thousands of government-backed scientists generally would have to reveal financial interests of $5,000 or more, according to a report by CQ.com. The current disclosure minimum is $10,000.

University medical schools or other institutions that employ medical researchers would be required to report to both NIH and the public.

According to NIH, public and private financial support of biomedical research between 1994 and 2003 grew from $37.1 billion to $94.3 billion. Industry accounted for 57 percent of funding in 2003. A 2007 survey showed that 52.8 percent of academic researchers had money ties to business, versus 28 percent in a 1996 survey, NIH officials said.

NIH officials also called the proposed reporting changes, "substantial."

Responsibility for deciding whether a relationship posed a potential conflict of interest would rest with the institution supporting the research not the individual scientist.

Institutions also would be required to have a publicly accessible Website listing significant financial relationships reported by faculty and other researchers.

The Institute of Medicine has recommended requiring public disclosure of all payments from the medical industry to physicians, health care institutions, biomedical researchers and other health providers.

The new federal health reform law calls for a national electronic database for reporting payments of more than $10 or any other items of value from manufacturers to physicians or teaching hospitals. Charity care, discounts and rebates and educational materials would be excluded from that reporting requirement.