Aim <p>While several global bibliometric studies have examined cardiothoracic surgery research, India’s contributions remain largely unquantified. This study aimed to perform a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of all PubMed-indexed publications related to cardiothoracic surgery from India.</p> Methods <p>A retrospective review of PubMed was conducted for the period 1948–2024 using six predefined search strategies. Manuscripts were screened using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria and categorized by year, subspecialty, institution, and journal of publication.</p> Results <p>A total of 8025 publications across 1014 journals were identified. The publication trajectory revealed three distinct phases: an early phase (1948–1986) with only 106 publications; an acceleration phase (1987–2019) with 5472 publications; and a recent phase (2020–2024) with an average of 489 publications per year, peaking at 566 in 2022. Adult cardiac surgery—including coronary artery bypass grafting, valve surgery, and aortic procedures—accounted for 33.1% of publications, followed by congenital (27.1%) and thoracic surgery (20.8%). The All India Institute(s) of Medical Sciences contributed the highest overall output. The <i>Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery</i> (IJTC) emerged as the most frequently chosen journal in the last 5 years, accounting for 12.3% of all recent publications.</p> Conclusion <p>This bibliometric analysis highlights India’s expanding academic footprint in cardiothoracic surgery, reflecting evolving research priorities, increasing subspecialization, and a growing preference for domestic specialty journals.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>